Shuttle countdown test goes smoothly
Aug. 11, 2006

Atlantis'' astronauts strapped into the space shuttle Thursday for a practice launch countdown more than two weeks before they are scheduled to blast off on a mission to resume construction of the international space station.

The six crew members, dressed in their orange spacesuits, waved to photographers as they walked out of crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center and boarded a van that took them to the launch pad. The launch window opens August 27.

The practice went smoothly with the countdown clock stopping at 4 seconds, said NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham.

There have been only two shuttle flights since 2003's Columbia disaster killed seven astronauts. The launches of Discovery in 2005, and again last month, were test flights to demonstrate whether NASA had solved the problem of foam falling off the external tank that doomed Columbia. But launches will become more routine because NASA and its international partners need 15 more shuttle flights, averaging about four a year, to finish building the space station before the space shuttles are grounded in 2010.

Atlantis'' mission will be the first in more than three years to resume construction on the space station, which is only half-built.

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