Bill Gerstenmaier participates in a news briefing following the conclusion of a Mission Management Team or MMT meeting.

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, participates in a news briefing following the conclusion of a Mission Management Team, or MMT, meeting. The meeting followed the morning's launch scrub of the space shuttle Atlantis STS-122 mission caused by problems experienced with the external tank's engine cutoff sensor system during tanking for the second launch attempt. An announcement was made during the briefing that the STS-122 launch is postponed to no earlier than Jan. 2, 2008, to give the team time to resolve the system's problems. Atlantis will carry the Columbus Laboratory, the European Space Agency's largest contribution to the construction of the International Space Station. It will support scientific and technological research in a microgravity environment. Permanently attached to the Harmony node of the space station, the laboratory will carry out experiments in materials science, fluid physics and biosciences, as well as perform a number of technological applications. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett