NASA to try to launch shuttle next week, SEPT.6

Atlantis Weathers the Storm Image above: Atlantis rests on Launch Pad 39B just before the rotating service structure was moved into place to safely cloak the shuttle from Tropical Depression Ernesto.

No damage to facilities or flight hardware is reported at the Kennedy Space Center following the exit of Ernesto from Florida. As the tropical depression passed through the area on Wednesday, the peak wind recorded on Launch Pad 39B, where Space Shuttle Atlantis stands, was measured at 44 miles per hour at 4:45 p.m. EDT.
The shuttle was surrounded by the rotating service structure as NASA decided to protect it in place when weather forecasts improved.Mission managers are considering a possible launch as early as Sept. 6.

If that date is selected, the liftoff time would be 12:29 p.m.Emergency operations teams began initial damage assessments at the space center starting at 2 a.m. EDT on Thursday after Ernesto moved past.

The center reopened for normal operations on Thursday morning.On Tuesday, mission mangers halted a rollback of the space shuttle to the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building as the projected path of the tropical storm skirted further west than first expected, allowing a sufficient decrease in winds to permit the shuttle to ride out the storm at the pad.


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After a week of weather delays

NASA officials on Thursday set a Wednesday launch time for space shuttle Atlantis on its mission to resume construction of the international space station.

The launch decision was made after a check of
Kennedy Space Center following Ernesto's pass as a tropical depression on Wednesday found no serious damage.

"We're back," said NASA spokesman Bill Johnson. "There was no water intrusion in any operational areas, and so basically we came through this one unscathed."

The launch time was set for 12:29 EDT on Wednesday. If the shuttle doesn't lift off then, NASA has launch opportunities in the following two days.

Atlantis' six astronauts, who flew in their training jets back to Houston earlier this week, planned to return to Florida Saturday morning. The countdown was set to begin Sunday morning.

Tropical Storm Ernesto's approach and a lightning strike on the launch pad last week had forced NASA to delay the launch.