good evening we begin NASA television
coverage of mission STS 76 here at the
John F Kennedy Space Center in Florida
we're just hours away from NASA's 76
space shuttle launch and the 16th flight
of the orbiter Atlantis there's a crew
of six astronauts getting ready to
launch aboard the shuttle Atlantis this
morning liftoff is planned at 3:13 a.m.
Eastern Time that's the opening of a
7-minute launch window the window
extends until 3:20 a.m. Eastern Time the
weather conditions are very favorable
for a liftoff we've got a 90 percent
chance of having acceptable conditions
for a launch the flight crew is
continuing to get ready over in their
crew quarters at the operations and
check-out building while the launch team
here at KSC in the front room is
preparing the vehicle and monitoring
systems and we do have two crews out of
the pad right now one is in the white
room and inside the vehicle crew module
getting things set up and ready the
other is the final inspection team
making an assessment of the vehicle and
looking at temperatures and assessing
the overall vehicle
we do have live pictures of the flight
crew cat mission specialist Linda Godwin
she'll be one of the spacewalkers on
this flight pilot rich Richard Searfoss
and commander or kevin chilton Tilton
will be guiding the shuttle Atlantis to
a smooth docking mission specialist
Shannon lucid getting ready to begin her
stay on Mir mission specialist Ron Sega
and mission specialist rich Clifford
who's also serving as the flight
engineer for the mission and will be
performing the spacewalk
and the crew waving for the camera
like we're ready to go they've been up
since 4:30 p.m.
they'll be getting into the launch and
entry suits about 11:20 p.m.
we're currently get some live coverage
of the final inspection team walking
around on the top of the the mobile
launcher platform just looking at the
aft end of the solid rocket boosters one
of the team members just passed team is
composed of eight members representing
the NASA and contractor team they use a
portable infrared scanner also they take
close-up photo documentation of the
cryogenic surfaces and doing a lot of
data collection to correlate the data
we're standing by to get live coverage
of the STS 76 astronauts as they get
into their launch and entry suits and we
do have coverage we've got commander or
kevin chilton making his third flight
today
just completed the weather briefing with
flight directors in Houston and the
weather coordinators they're going
through the traditional suit up being
assisted with the bulky suit Chilton
will be the third little dock with the
Russian space station the third to do
that got pilot Richard Searfoss making
his second flight he's known as the
rendezvous expert and will be
responsible for the undocking of the MIR
station in this that's quick fly around
sir Frost will be assisting children at
the flight controls in the crew cabin of
Atlantis
mission specialist Ron Sega he's the
payload commander for this mission
making his second flight he's very
familiar with the United States Russian
cooperative space effort having spent
several months in Russia serving as
NASA's Operations Director at the
Gagarin cosmonaut training center in
Star City just outside of Moscow
across the room the rest of the crew
members are getting assisted with
equipment they'll be taking a board
mission specialist Shannon lucid
she's got flying for the five the fifth
time today it's the first American woman
to be launched aboard the the MIR
station she'll be staying aboard the MIR
for four and a half months as soon as
she arrives on the MIR station she will
become part of that team she'll be
staying on Mir for about a hundred and
forty three days until August conducting
long-duration space research mission
specialist rich Clifford he's also
serving as the flight engineer and will
be one of the crew members to make a
spacewalk spacewalk will occur on flight
day six he's also gonna be responsible
for the space vision system and will be
helping transferal supplies and
equipment over to the MIR station also
he'll be assisting the commander and
pilot with asset and reentry checklists
and in monitoring vehicle systems as the
flight engineer mission specialist Linda
Godwin she's making her third flight
today she's going to join rich Clifford
in the spacewalk on flight day six where
they'll be attaching the four
experiments to the mirrored docking
module
we've got the STS 76 crewmembers walking
down the hall at the portions in
check-out building crew getting ready
for their nine-day flight mission
specialist Shannon lucid getting ready
for the first flight day staying in
space for about four and a half months
employees wishing the crew well on their
trip and here we have the crew coming
out
seventy-six crew is now aboard the
astronaut van Bob Cabana
followed the crew into the van he'll be
getting out at the launch complex 39
area he is going to be in the weather
reconnaissance aircraft that will be
staged from the shuttle landing facility
please step 542
this is shuttle launch control just past
the t-minus two hour and Counting mark
in our countdown for mission STS 76 as
we count down to a 3-13 a.m. launched
this morning and mission specialist
Shannon lucid sitting at the hatch
wedding her turn to climb aboard the
Atlantis
however system services and ready to
come out to close out
dr. Anthony go ahead box team is ready
copy that
I'll conduct a poll here
we've just heard shuttle launch director
Jim Harrington complete the poll giving
the final clear for the launch of the
space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS 76
looking for an on-time launch of
Atlantis at 3:13 am counting down to the
final nine minutes before the launch of
Atlantis
pilots air Frost will flip switches in
the crew module to directly connect the
three fuel cells to the essential power
buses in the next few minutes
Oh
got a glimpse of commander kevin chilton
waving as the as the access arm was
being retracted away crew now ready to
go as we countdown the final seven
minutes toward the launch of Atlantis
before
a profile test and the orbiter error
services has started the flight control
surfaces are being moved through a
pre-programmed pattern to verify they
are ready for launch next the main
engines will begin build in position for
launch
Hey look what hydrogen tanks now being
pressurized for flight all systems are
go for launch at this time just a few
minutes away from the sixteenth voyage
of Atlantis with a crew of six
the gaseous oxygen vent hood is being
retracted away from the top of the
external tank
trumpeter after that ban price
kulookakoo close and lock your visors
8802 Pro and this time for this
experiment six to wake up the state
shows have a great
Lance will be lost on a northerly
trajectory inclined 51.6 degrees to the
equator
we have a go for engine start
booster ignition and liftoff
placing Atlanta from the proper heading
pretty good engine
engines are travelling back now nothing
to ease the buildup of aerodynamic loads
on the vehicle as Atlantis continues to
accelerate rapidly through the dense
lower altitudes traveling now over 650
miles per hour time 48 seconds systems
are performing well Atlantis is now
easing through the period of maximum
dynamic pressure
and the engines were following back up
atlantis go at throttle up fire engines
are now running at full status systems
with the funding well i was the tutors
now at sixty two thousand feet - a
traveling over 1,000 miles per hour
sighs rocket booster chamber pressures
beginning to pay laughs signaling the
burnout of the twin boosters
the controller sees a good separation
Atlantis is now flying free powered by
ozone main engines second stage guidance
is now in effect altitude now is one
hundred seventy eight thousand feet
downrange distance 38 miles
Atlantis performance phenomenal Atlantis
to engine tail