Avi Blizovsky
16:30
In light of the decision to postpone the launch indefinitely, the news continues in a new file.
28/8/06 שעה 11:30
NASA once again postpones the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis by a day. This time the launch is scheduled for Tuesday, August 29, at 15:41 PM Eastern Time - 22:41 PM Israel Time. Managers are monitoring the progress of Tropical Storm Ernesto to decide tomorrow whether to return Atlantis back to the shuttle assembly structure to protect her. In the meantime, the engineers checked the shuttle and ruled out the possibility that it was damaged by the lightning that struck the launch pad on Friday.
STS-115: The Atlantis launch will be delayed a day to Monday evening
27/8/06 שעה 11:00
NASA engineers will carefully examine the effect of lightning strikes on the space shuttle Atlantis' launch pad on Friday. Therefore, the launch that was planned for tonight will be postponed. The next attempt will be tomorrow, Monday, at 23:04 PM Israel Time (16:04 PM EST).
STS-115: Weather in Florida may delay Atlantis launch
26/7/06 22:00
Stormy weather prevails in Cape Canberal in Florida, and the American space agency hopes that the launch of the space shuttle "Atlantis" scheduled for today (Sunday) at 23:30 Israel time will not have to be postponed. Forecasters expect a 60 percent chance that favorable weather conditions for the launch will not exist.
However, on Friday and yesterday - Saturday, thunderstorms occurred in the afternoon hours.
Atlantis with a crew of six astronauts is scheduled to take off to the International Space Station.
The fear is that the charged clouds could cause lightning during the launch.
The STS-115 flight crew, under the command of Jeff Burnett, will deliver components to the station, including additional solar collectors to reinforce the power generation system, with a total weight of 17.5 tons. This will be the first major assembly of a component at the station since 2002.
The forecasters are also following the storm "Ernesto" which will probably hit the Gulf of Mexico in the middle of next week, and may damage the control center in Houston. In previous hurricane events, the control personnel transferred the supervision of the International Space Station to their colleagues in Russia, but there has never been a case where a shuttle was also in space during a storm that hit a NASA facility.
