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Tropical Storm Fay Rains on Space Shuttle Atlantis' Parade
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As Tropical Storm Fay stalks Florida, workers at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Base are taking precautions. Among the the safety actions: the canceling of this morning's planned rollover of Space Shuttle Atlantis from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB).
NASA officials said the delay in getting Atlantis into the VAB won't affect the scheduled Oct. 8 launch date for STS-125. A seven-member crew will perform the fifth and final servicing missions for the Hubble Space Telescope.
The attached video shows the rollover of Atlantis on Feb. 7, 2007 for its STS-117 mission. Rollover and rollout--meaning rollout to the launch pad-- are significant milestones. They're also pretty exciting for workers. Those who can often come out to watch the move and snap their own personal photographs.
Once in the VAB, Atlantis will be mated to its "stack." The phrase stack, used by space workers, means the external fuel tank and the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) that will propel Atlantis aloft. In the VAB, the shuttle will "go vertical" and be lifted to a platform with the stack.
Right now, the National Hurricane Center is forecasting a path for Tropical Storm Fay that will take the storm's center about 125 miles west of the KSC area. As veteran storm watchrs and residents know, these storms are tempermental and can turn in another direction at any time. The current forecast calls for thunderstorms wih cloud-to-ground lightning, with the situation worsening as Fay moves north.
Update 9:45 a.m.: a KSC spokesperson said that they are targeting Thursday for rollover, if the weather cooperates.
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