From NASA:
NASA DECIDES TO MOVE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS OFF LAUNCH PAD
NASA has decided to roll the Space Shuttle Atlantis off its launch pad
and back inside the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building at
the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The roll back is targeted to start at
approximately 10:05 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
The decision was made due to Tropical Storm Ernesto's track. Ernesto
is expected to bring high winds as it passes Kennedy.
A new launch date is not yet scheduled for Atlantis' flight, STS-115,
to the International Space Station. NASA and the Russian Federal
Space Agency continue to discuss the timing of Atlantis' mission and
the Soyuz spacecraft, which will send the next crew to the station in
September. Factors to be considered are the lighting constraints for
the shuttle launch and Soyuz landing and the timing for docking and
undocking the spacecraft with the station. NASA is also investigating
additional launch windows later in the fall.
The STS-115 crew will return to NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.
Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson, and mission specialists
Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian
astronaut Steve MacLean will continue training as they await a new
target launch date.
This means Atlantis will probably miss the September 7th deadline for a Launch. It takes eight days for a turn-around from Hangar to pad. With the Soyuz docking later in September the Shuttle can't be there at the same time. Also, with the new launch laws in effect, if there is not enough light to photograph the shuttle launch then we only have 3 launch windows this year to Launch Atlantis. I think they should wave the sunlight rule for this. We got to get the ISS built. I'm confident that the foam on the fuel tank is now stable. They can photo the shuttle out in space with the camera arm. The good thing is after Friday's lightning strike, the techs can give Atlantis a good checkup while in the hangar.
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