The refueling of the shuttle for the last launch started on time, but the eyes are on the sky, and for the cessation of the rain and the lightning storms, two of which struck hundreds of meters from the shuttle yesterday
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, refueling from the space shuttle Atlantis' external fuel tank began with more than 2 million liters of liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
Refueling, in launch well 39A, began at 09:01 Israel time (02:01 local time). The launch team will monitor the weather throughout the refueling process. In the last two days, it rained a lot at the launch pad and even several lightning strikes hundreds of meters away from the shuttle at 12:31 and 12:40 noon yesterday (local time). The forecasters predict only a 30% chance that the weather conditions will allow the launch towards the planned time - 11:26 a.m. Eastern Time (18:26 p.m. Israel time).
Apart from the weather, no other factor is expected to delay the launch. No faults were detected in any sensor or any other sensitive component.
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The countdown stops at some point for tests, don't advance anything. It is impossible to advance because the launch has to be coordinated with the meeting with the space station.
The NASA website says that the launch will take 50 hour and 50 minutes. Why was the launch brought forward by about XNUMX minutes?