Categories: Space Shuttle

Atlantis Rolls to the Launch Pad

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Thursday afternoon space shuttle Atlantis rolled out to Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, making it’s slow 5.1 km (3.2 mile) journey along the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA mission managers cleared the shuttle’s move after a weather briefing on the status of Tropical Storm Hanna which determined the storm would remain far enough off shore to not cause any problems for the shuttle exposed out on the pad. Atlantis’ seven-member crew are set for an equipment test Friday at Kennedy in preparation for their mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope has already rewritten the books on astronomy and will remain operational for at least another five years following the upgrades. Atlantis is targeted to launch Oct. 8 on mission STS-125. However, another hurricane, Ike, lurks out in the waters of the Atlantic, and could cause problems. But NASA is betting it won’t turn north and head for Florida.

Hubble Servicing Mission No. 4 is the only flight left on NASA’s shuttle manifest that is not headed to the International Space Station. Because Hubble is in a different orbit, Atlantis’ crew cannot seek “safe haven” on the ISS in case of any problems that might prevent a safe re-entry.

Therefore, a second shuttle, Endeavour, will head out to Launch Pad 39 B on Sept. 19, and be ready and on alert for a rescue mission. But if no rescue flight is needed, Endeavour will be moved to pad 39A and prepared for launch on the next ISS assembly mission around Nov. 10.

News Source: NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

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