Average Rating: Rate this article:

Shuttle Nears Space Station, Looks 'Beautiful' By Marcia Dunn November 18, 2009 9:02AM Atlantis is loaded with pumps, tanks, gyroscopes and other huge spare parts for the orbiting outpost, as well as some small, fragile science experiments. Perhaps the most delicate of all are four butterfly larvae, a student experiment. The plan is for the larvae to develop into Painted Lady butterflies over the next week or two.   Related Topics NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Station JPL Twitter Latest News U.S. Losing in Clean-Tech Innovation Endeavour Blasts Off on Night Flight Ancient Dinosaur Had Colorful Stripes Pluto Shows Hubble Its True Colors Exercise May Not Boost Endurance Space shuttle Atlantis closed in on the International Space Station on Wednesday for a high-flying linkup and supply drop. Astronaut Nicole Stott, a space station resident for the past 2 1/2 months, was thrilled to see her ride home. She spotted Atlantis from three miles out, a couple hours before its scheduled late morning arrival. "I have my ticket all ready and stamped, waiting for you guys when you get here," Stott radioed to shuttle commander Charles Hobaugh. "Who is this?" Hobaugh teased. "It's your favorite passenger," she replied. "You look beautiful out there." Just before docking, Hobaugh was going to guide Atlantis through a pirouette for the space station cameras, for a final check to make sure there's no damage to the thermal tiles on its belly. NASA says so far, all indications are that the shuttle made it through Monday's liftoff just fine. The astronauts surveyed their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage. A quick look at the laser images shows everything in good shape. Experts will continue to analyze the data , as well as all the photos that will be taken of Atlantis before it docks. Atlantis will remain at the orbiting outpost for a week, enough time for the two crews to unload nearly 15 tons of spare parts. The six astronauts on the shuttle and six on the station will make for one big crowd. "We're crashing the party," Hobaugh called out as the shuttle drew to within a mile. Atlantis is loaded with pumps, tanks, gyroscopes and other huge spare parts for the orbiting outpost, as well as some small, fragile science experiments. Perhaps the most delicate of all are four butterfly larvae, a student experiment. The plan is for the larvae to develop into Painted Lady butterflies over the next week or two and return on the next shuttle flight in February.   © 2010 Associated Press/AP Online under contract with YellowBrix. All rights reserved.   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Space 1.   Endeavour Blasts Off on Night Flight 2.   Pluto Shows Hubble Its True Colors 3.   A Bay Window for the Space Station 4.   Space Rock Spurs Earthly Dispute 5.   Fly Me To the Moon in a Space Taxi U.S. Space Program: Final Frontier? A Jetsons-like future seems unlikely. Average Rating: Good Night Moon, Hello Rockets Dramatic rocketry changes mandated. Average Rating: Sorry NASA, Scratch That Moon Plan Obama sends agency in new direction. Average Rating:

Mobile Enterprise Spotlight

Analysts See iPad Price Drop, with Some Cannibalization Just weeks before Apple officially rolls out the iPad, financial analysts are making pricing predictions. But could the analysis itself hinder the initial demand for the pricey tablet computer?   Bar Codes Go Mobile, Get Hip Again For decades, retailers have used patterns of black dots and lines to encode data onto products. Now, bar codes are gaining favor as an easy way for cell-phone users to view ads and other data instantly.   'Dead Simple, Dirt Cheap' JooJoo Tablet Shipping Soon The JooJoo, a web-browsing tablet device that is the subject of a high-profile legal dispute, appears on track to reach buyers at the end of February, but the tablet scene has dramatically changed.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

Google May Add Facebook, Twitter Links to Gmail Google will reportedly roll more social-networking features into Gmail, the fastest-growing e-mail service. The new features could save users the trouble of switching to Facebook or Twitter.   IBM's New POWER7 Servers Save Energy with Big Loads IBM has unveiled high-capacity servers that are the first to be based on its new, multi-core POWER7 chip. It said the new line is designed "to manage the most demanding emerging applications."   IBM Opens Eco-Friendly, Cloud-Focused Data Center IBM has opened its latest data center in North Carolina. Big Blue said the $362 million facility in Research Triangle Park is designed to support cloud computing and other new computing models.

Navigation Sci-Tech Today Home/Top News | Computing | Digital Life | Discovery | Space | Innovation | Health | Science News Environment NewsFactor Network Enterprise I.T. Sites NewsFactor Technology News | Enterprise Security Today | CRM Daily NewsFactor Business and Innovation Sites Sci-Tech Today | NewsFactor Business Report NewsFactor Services FreeNewsFeed | Free Newsletters | Free Whitepapers | About NewsFactor Network | How To Contact Us | Article Reprints | Careers @ NewsFactor | Services for PR Pros | Top Tech Wire | How To Advertise Privacy Policy | Terms of Service © Copyright 2000-2010 NewsFactor Network. All rights reserved. Article rating technology by Blogowogo.