WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on Friday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to deliver a Russian module and equipment to the International Space Station, which is the last planned flight for the 25-year- old spaceship. The following is a brief introduction to Discovery' s STS-132 mission.
Atlantis' 12-day mission will deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 that will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
MRM-1, also known as Rassvet, which means dawn in Russian, is about 23 feet long and weighs 17,147 pounds. It will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the station's Zarya module and will carry important hardware on its exterior including a radiator, airlock and a European robotic arm.
Atlantis also will deliver additional station hardware stored inside a cargo carrier. Three spacewalks are planned to stage spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a Ku-band antenna and spare parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm. Two flights to the station remain after STS-132 before the shuttles are retired at the end of the year. STS-132 is the 132nd shuttle mission and the 34th shuttle flight to the station.
