Waiting Out the Storm

July 30th, 2006
Author Tariq Malik

» Waiting Out the Storm

NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis will have to wait one more day before heading to its launch pad as poor weather prevented a midnight rollout Monday, press reports say.

Severe storms over and around NASA’s Kennedy Space Center spaceport apparently prevented Atlantis from taking the long, slow trip to Launch Pad 39B at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) as previously planned, according to Florida Today and Spaceflight Now.

Now mated to the external tank and twin solid rocket boosters that will help carry it spaceward, Atlantis is currently scheduled to launch its STS-115 astronaut crew toward the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 28. The shuttle’s payload – a set of new trusses and solar panel wings – have already been delivered to the orbiter’s launch site, though Atlantis itself remains safely inside NASA’s massive Vehicle Assembly Building.

Atlantis is now set to ride its massive crawler carrier vehicle across the 4.2-mile track to Pad 39B Monday night at 10:00 p.m. EDT (0200 Aug 1 GMT), according to Florida Today.