Inside KSC News Feeds
08-05-2008, 05:38 AM
A 15-story external tank and twin solid rocket boosters were joined at Kennedy Space Center during the weekend, marking an early milestone in the build-up of shuttle Atlantis for an October flight.
The mating operation set the stage for the orbiter Atlantis to be added to the stack Aug. 18 -- a week before the fully assembled shuttle is hauled out to launch pad 39A in advance of an Oct. 5 blastoff.
"We're actually still very much on track," KSC spokesman Allard Beutel said. "We're still in very good shape."
NASA aims to launch Atlantis and seven astronauts on a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Liftoff is still officially scheduled for Oct. 8, but the agency is striving for an earlier launch.
The agency intends to push up its next two missions to make certain the second gets off the ground before a window of opportunity closes Nov. 24.
Endeavour is scheduled to launch Nov. 10 on an International Space Station outfitting mission, and the agency wants to move that date up to Nov. 7.
More... (http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS02/808050333/1007/rss06)
The mating operation set the stage for the orbiter Atlantis to be added to the stack Aug. 18 -- a week before the fully assembled shuttle is hauled out to launch pad 39A in advance of an Oct. 5 blastoff.
"We're actually still very much on track," KSC spokesman Allard Beutel said. "We're still in very good shape."
NASA aims to launch Atlantis and seven astronauts on a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Liftoff is still officially scheduled for Oct. 8, but the agency is striving for an earlier launch.
The agency intends to push up its next two missions to make certain the second gets off the ground before a window of opportunity closes Nov. 24.
Endeavour is scheduled to launch Nov. 10 on an International Space Station outfitting mission, and the agency wants to move that date up to Nov. 7.
More... (http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS02/808050333/1007/rss06)