WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At Launch Pad 39A, the U.S. Laboratory Destiny waits in Atlantis’s payload bay for closure of the payload bay doors. Destiny, a key element in the construction of the International Space Station, is 28 feet long and weighs 16 tons. This research and command-and-control center is the most sophisticated and versatile space laboratory ever built. It will ultimately house a total of 23 experiment racks for crew support and scientific research. Destiny will be launched Feb. 7 on STS-98, the seventh construction flight to the ISS.