This summer, NASA has two space shuttle missions scheduled to go to the International Space Station (ISS), a spacecraft going to the asteroid belt, and the first scout mission going to land on the planet Mars.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis has a launch date as early as June 8th for the 11-day mission STS-117. It will deliver the second starboard truss segment and a 3rd set of solar arrays and batteries to the ISS. Flight Engineer Sunita Williams will return to Earth and Clayton Anderson will replace her aboard the ISS. It is the 21st mission to the ISS, and the 118th space shuttle flight. This mission was delayed from March due to hail damage incurred at the launch pad.

The next launch is scheduled for as early as June 30th for the Dawn spacecraft on a mission to the asteroid belt. It will be the first spacecraft to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage. The asteroids Ceres and Vesta will be studied. Dawn carries the names of many people to the asteroid belt, a special promotion by NASA. Certificates were given to the people who registered their name last year.

August 3rd is the launch date for the Phoenix-Mars Mission. The Phoenix spacecraft is a Lander. Its mission is to uncover clues in the frozen arctic soils about the history of its water. It will supply information for the possibility of Mars for future habitation. This is the first mission of NASA’s “Scout Program” which was designed to be an innovative, low-cost complement to the major Mars missions.

The second Space Shuttle flight of the summer is scheduled for no earlier than August 9th. The Space Shuttle Endeavour will deliver a third starboard truss segment to the ISS on the 11-day mission STS-118. It will be the 22nd mission to the ISS by a space shuttle.