April 8th, 2002 will see the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-110. The launch was previously delayed due to a weld leak which was fixed over the weekend. This will be the 109th flight of a space shuttle, and the 25th flight for Atlantis.

The shuttle will be up for 11 days, carrying 7 crew members and a truss structure and mobile transporter for the space station. The truss will eventually be used to hold solar wings. The transporter will later be attached to a robotic arm, and be able to slide up and down the truss to perform maintenance and assemble new pieces.

The shuttle´s crew will be the first visitors to the space station since December 2001.

Astronomy Information Pages