KSC-07-S-00039

Launch Director Mike Leinbach bids farewell to the STS-117 crew minutes before their launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis is delivering a new segment to the starboard side of the International Space Station's backbone, known as the truss. Three spacewalks are planned to install the S3_S4 truss segment, deploy a set of solar arrays and prepare them for operation. STS-117 is the 118th space shuttle flight, the 21st flight to the station, the 28th flight for Atlantis and the first of four flights planned for 2007.