WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space, today congratulated NASA and the Shuttle Atlantis crew on successful completion of their mission to further construction of the International Space Station (ISS).
“Continued development of the International Space Station and the research it supports is critical to our nation’s space program,” Sen. Hutchison said. “The Atlantis crew has left behind a larger and more capable space station with the ability to generate twice the power needed for station operations and research experiments. I congratulate NASA on this successful mission and look forward to mid-December when Shuttle Discovery will deliver more vital components to the station.”
The Atlantis crew successfully completed deployment of the radiator on a new solar array truss segment, a major objective of this mission. With the new arrays attached, the power generation capability of the ISS is doubled. This enhances the station’s ability to support research and allows for the addition of laboratory modules waiting on the ground for launch.
