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 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - To the pleasure of NASA's international space station partners, prospects were good for an on-time liftoff of shuttle Atlantis and Europe's long-awaited Columbus lab on Thursday.
Columbus will be the second scientific laboratory added to the space station. NASA's Destiny lab made its debut in 2001, and Japan's huge lab Kibo, which means hope, will go up in three sections beginning on the very next shuttle mission in February.
The shuttle's commander, Stephen Frick, and his crew are keenly aware of how passionate the Europeans are about Columbus and how long they have waited. About 750 Europeans connected to the lab have begun gathering at the launch site, prompting one British official, Alan Thirkettle, to quip, "We've invaded."
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