Atlantis Shuttle Launch Delayed
Posted August 26, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
On Saturday NASA announced that it was delaying the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis by 24 hours after a lightning strike Friday.
The craft was originally slated to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Sunday at 4:30pm.
NASA officials said they delayed the mission to determine if the bolt caused any damage. The lightning struck a wire attached to a tower used to protect the shuttle from such strikes on the launch pad.
The weather is expected to be much better for the beginning of next week, with only a 20 percent chance of conditions that would prevent a launch – NASA won’t send a shuttle up if there are storms within about 40 kilometres of the landing runway.
NASA weather experts have also been keeping a very close eye on Tropical Storm Ernesto, which is expected to hit Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Sunday. It’s not yet known if the developing system will hit the U.S., but it is expected to intensify into a hurricane by next week.
Ernesto shouldn’t cause any problems if Atlantis blasts off Monday, but if the launch is delayed again, it could be a major concern.
The worst-case scenario is that Ernesto hits Texas and workers are forced to evacuate Mission Control in Houston, which would mean the crew would have to return to Earth immediately.
The goal of the Atlantis mission is to attach an addition to the international space station that will provide a quarter of its electricity.
If the crew had to return to Earth, they’d have to do their best to leave that 17-ton addition at the outpost.
“If we had to evacuate (Houston) … we would not be able to execute the docked mission. … Certainly not of the complexity of the one we’re about to embark on,” said Leroy Cain, launch integration manager.
“We would leave the station in the safest configuration and come back and pick up the pieces … on a subsequent mission.”
