Hello and welcome. I'm Jim Kennedy, director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center.
We are about to embark on another historic space shuttle flight with the launch of Atlantis on mission STS-115.
Commander Brent Jett and his crew of five will deliver an important truss segment to the International Space Station.
The truss, while only 45 feet long in the orbiter's payload bay, will have a wingspan of almost 240 feet when its solar arrays are deployed.
It will take the specially trained astronauts three spacewalks to install the segment.
This significant addition will resume the assembly of the station by providing a quarter of the completed station's power capability.
Back here on Earth, the launch, payload, and weather questions you submit through our
NASA Direct question board will be answered for you by our panel of experts.
Thanks for being with us for this important shuttle mission as Atlantis and her crew prepares to write the next chapter of space flight history.