Whew, I think that's enough for now. Orbital Mechanics 101 is dismissed. STS-101 Regardless of when Atlantis arrives at ISS, the crew will do some work outside before they open the hatches and float over the portals of the station. Weighing in at 42,000 pounds, it will provide navigation, propulsion, communications, water, power and living quarters for the vanguard long-term crews. First, a dearth of rubles stalled its construction.
Protons are now back in business.
Which leaves the Russians tinkering with the Service Module software. Fortunately, Russian software programmers are some of cleverest geeks in the galaxy. Years of coping with very limited hardware made for some ingenious, elegant software solutions. Necessity is the mother of lean code. The Russians insist they will be ready to fly sometime between July 8 and 14.