Special report: Launch of
Atlantis
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The space shuttle Atlantis leaves launch
pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida August 29,
2006. Photo Gallery
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BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA said on Tuesday that Sept. 6 was the earliest possible date for its next attempt to launch space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to the International Space Station.
The U.S. space agency had originally set last Sunday as
the day for liftoff. But the mission was delayed by a thunder bolt that hit the
shuttle's seaside launch pad in central Florida on Friday and then by Tropical
Storm Ernesto.
According NASA's official website, NASA
on Tuesday decided to move space shuttle Atlantis off its launch pad and back
inside the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
The decision was made due to tropical storm Ernesto's
track, which is expected to cause high winds as it passes Kennedy, NASA
explained. The roll back of Atlantis began at 10:05 a.m. EDT (1505GMT) Tuesday
morning.
A new launch date is not yet scheduled for Atlantis's
flight, STS-115, to the International Space Station. Atlantis would require
eight days of launch preparations once it is returned to the launch pad.
Meanwhile, NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency
continued to discuss the timing of Atlantis's mission and the Soyuz spacecraft,
which will send the next crew to the station in September.
The STS-115 crew will return to NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston to continue training as they await a new target launch date.
Enditem
(Agencies)
WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Xinhua) -- NASA on Tuesday
decided to move space shuttle Atlantis off its launch pad and back inside the
protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, according NASA's official website.
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