Sunday, September 07, 2008

BACK AT THE PAD... After several days of delays due to the approaching risk of Tropical Storm Hanna, space shuttle Atlantis finally rolled out to its Florida launch pad last Thursday. At first, I thought that NASA was being overly optimistic making this move...seeing as how there were two storms, Hurricane Ike and Tropical Depression Josephine, still brewing out there in the Atlantic. Judging from this page as of today, Josephine is gone, and Ike was only (but perilously) going to pass near the tip of southern Florida on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center at 9:33 PM on October 9 (California time), on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope one last time. Hubble should last for 5 more years beyond 2008 if the repairs go smoothly on STS-125.

Space shuttle Atlantis arrives at Launch Complex 39A in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on September 4, 2008.  Preparations will continue to get it ready for its October 9 launch to the Hubble Space Telescope, on flight STS-125.
NASA / Kim Shiflett

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