WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

In the Operations and Checkout Building, Aslan Abashidze (left), President of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara in Georgia (Russia), STS-112 Mission Specialist Fyodor N. Yurchikhin, Ph.D., a cosmonaut with the Russian Space Agency; and Georgi Abashidze, Mayor of Batumi (Yurchikhin's hometown), pose for a portrait. Yurchikhin and the other members of the STS-112 crew are awaiting launch to the International Space Station aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The launch has been postponed to no earlier than Monday, Oct. 7, so that the Mission Control Center, located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, can be secured and protected from potential storm impacts from Hurricane Lili.