Wed, Sep 06, 2006
Atlantis To Head To Orbit At 12:29 EDT
The weather looks good... the shuttle looks good... and if it
all comes together in a way it hasn't during three previous
attempts, Atlantis should be headed for space Wednesday
afternoon.
Launch time from the Kennedy Space Center is set at 12:29 EDT,
on a long-delayed mission to continue the construction of the
International Space Station. Weather officials are predicting
favorable conditions for Wednesday's launch attempt, with a
30-percent chance of weather prohibiting the launch.
A low-pressure area may
develop over Central Florida on Wednesday, increasing the potential
for moisture in the atmosphere. However, the early launch time is
expected to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.
The primary concerns for launch are cumulus clouds within 10
nautical miles of the launch pad and isolated showers within 20
nautical miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility.
STS-115 carries a 17.5 ton addition to the station's power
generation apparatus. Its six crew members will conduct a number of
spacewalks to install the equipment and otherwise help out around
the house while they're at the station.
If, for some reason, Atlantis can't launch as scheduled
Wednesday... there are two more launch opportunities on Thursday
and Friday.
That's a little out of the ordinary for crews at KSC. Usually,
if a mission is scrubbed twice in a row, the launch team stands
down for a few days to gather its collective breath and make sure
everything is ready for the next try.
Because of a pending Soyuz launch aimed at rotating the ISS
crew, however, the window is extremely tight.
If Atlantis can't get off the ground by Friday... there's not
much chance at all that it will launch before next month.
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