Shuttle Atlantis Set For Launch
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You are looking now at live pictures of Shuttle Atlantis. It's all set for lift-off this evening. Its mission: to deliver a $1.4 billion U.S. science module to the International Space Station. The facility is going to become the center of experiments for the outpost, once communications and steering systems are fully powered up. NASA calls its first shuttle mission of the new year a quantum leap forward for the International Space Station. CNN's Miles O'Brien, our space correspondent, is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning. And he's got more on the mission's importance for us. Hey, Miles.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, it seems appropriate that this quantum leap forward would come in the first shuttle mission of year 2001, the Space Odyssey, indeed. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is looking good. The weather here at the Kennedy Space Center, they say, is 100 percent. But don't put a lot of money down on the launch just yet. There is some iffy weather at the transatlantic launch abort sites in Spain and in Morocco, which may force the shuttle to stay on the ground today. We are watching that weather very closely. Now, this five-person crew, getting ready today to button themselves up in the Space Shuttle Atlantis on their way to the International Space Station. Carrying that $1.4 billion Destiny. And, yes, let's take a look at some animations showing exactly how the Destiny will be attached to the International Space Station. Marsha Ivins, NASA astronaut, will use the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm to pluck 30,000-pound Destiny out of the Paleo (ph) Bay of Atlantis, and attach it to the space station. There will be three spacewalks that will be conducted during this 11 mission to plug in all the connections and make sure that Destiny is up and running. Now this $1.4 billion scientific module, as you mentioned, Leon, isn't just the heart and soul of the scientific operation. It has key control operations for the space station. And once it's up and running, the control of this International Space Station -- which is a joint venture of the 16 nations, the U.S. and Russians leading the way -- the control of the station will shift from Moscow to Houston. So it's a significant moment in the history of the space station. We are watching it here at the cape -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: Good deal, Miles. Thanks much. We'll see you in a little bit. Now, the Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for lift-off at 6:11 p.m. Eastern. And that's just a few minutes after sunset, officially.