I just received word that the launch of Atlantis to service Hubble has been delayed from October 10 to October 14. The nominal launch time will be 10:19 p.m. Eastern (US) time. The launch was delayed so that NASA could check out all the facilities after Hurricane Ike.
This also means that the launch of Endeavour has been delayed to November 16.
For more info, check out NASA’s Shuttle pages.
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The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
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September 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
That might be a pretty good deal all around. Scott Altman was quoted on Space.com the other day that because of the hurricane stuff they have fallen behind in training for their Hubble mission. So this gives them a few extra days to cover all the bases.
September 24th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
That screws my space-nerd vacation to Florida from SLC.
On an unrelated note, I was reading that they’ll move Endeavor from 39B over to 39A for its Nov. launch. I assume there is a serious reason for such a move. Anyone know what it is?
J
September 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Isn’t that the very same day that a 2,000 mile mother ship is said to be entering our southern hemisphere? How very coicidental. I live near NASA in Florida and over the past few months there have been some very bizarre happenings in our skies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPXL7AFZkhU.
My family and I witnessed this occurrence, also. This verifies to me that something very strange is happening. On July 8th, I witnessed a UFO over my home in Ormond Beach. It was also photographed by our Channel 9 News out of Orlando. What on Earth is going on down here?
September 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Sorry, that URL doesn’t work. You can look for this video on Youtube. It was just startling for me to see it. I had no idea that anyone else would acknowledge or photograph what was happening.
YouTube:
Mysterious Sky Phenomenon-Linked to October 14th UFO event
September 24th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hubble has, in my opinion, more than paid for itself in terms of science value.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Sorry, I am pulling for another 9 days of delay since I will be in Florida then!
September 25th, 2008 at 12:06 am
LB, your url doesn’t work because it had an extra period, full stop, dot, “.” at the end of it. Only pointing it out because everybody deserves to see your
deranged lunacyvideo too.September 25th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Doesn’t matter to me what day they launch it exactly, I will be back in the hometown, on the Causeway wa4tch the last launch of the STS at that particular azimuth. Hubble shots are more interesting to watch, you see, hear and FEEL more than you do when the Shuttle heads towards STS.
Best of all, it is going to be at a reasonable hour. The 2:30am launches are a real drag.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:50 am
One other thing, Phil, the press local to Kennedy Space Center is telling a little bit of a different story:
“Senior shuttle managers today recommended delaying the launches of this year’s two remaining missions.
Atlantis’ launch on a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission would move from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, at 10:19 p.m.
Endeavour’s launch on a mission to the International Space Station would move from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16, at 7:07 p.m.
The new dates will not be official until senior NASA executives approve them during a flight readiness review scheduled next Thursday and Friday.”
This is in the Flame Trench blog on Florida Today, which has been an extremely reliable source of coverage of activities at the Cape for as long as I can remember — all the way back to the Gemini days. LOL, my name’s been published in that paper a few times.
So, while it is an almost certainty that the launches will be delayed, the schedule has yet to be made official, at least according to FT.
In other news, the Chinese have lofted three men into orbit this morning.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
The pad 39A vs. 39B thing: If I understand it correctly, the payload changeout structure on Pad 39B is either broken or needs to be updated to handle the ISS payload. Normally, they load the payload into the shuttle payload bay on the pad a week or two before launch, rather than installing it in the shuttle while it’s being assembled in the VAB. I don’t know why they do it this way, but they do. For a rescue flight they don’t really need any payload, just some extra space suits and extra seats in the main cabin.
Atlantis will launch with just enough EVA suits for the astronauts working on the Hubble, but not for the rest of the crew. I guess the orange launch/entry suits aren’t really suitable for EVA, maybe they have to be plugged into the shuttle’s air and power supply continuously, so you wouldn’t be able to go out the airlock wearing them?
So with nothing in the payload bay, they can launch from pad 39B with no problem. However, for the planned ISS mission, they need to load a full payload into the bay, and to do that, they need to move Endeavour to Pad 39A. They considered updating/repairing the payload changeout equipment on Pad 39B several years ago, but decided it would just be a waste of money since all the planned missions could use Pad 39A.
September 26th, 2008 at 7:00 am
OK. I’m going to be in FL from 11/27 to 12/1. Any chance they’ll delay a launch or schedule a landing in time for me to see it? I always seem to miss them by 2 weeks.