NASA puts space shuttle’s launch on hold

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA has delayed
Sunday’s planned launch of space shuttle Atlantis to assess
possible damage from a lightning strike on the ship’s Florida
launch pad, the U.S. space agency said on Saturday.

Postponement of the launch until no earlier than 4:04 p.m.
EDT (2004 GMT) on Monday will give managers more time to
analyze data from shuttle systems and ground support equipment
that may have been affected by the lightning bolt that struck
on Friday.

Additional delays will depend on whether repairs are
required, following what LeRoy Cain, the senior shuttle program
manager at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, called the biggest
lightning strike to hit a shuttle launch pad.

“At this point we don’t have enough data yet to really know
whether or not we have any problems,” Cain told a Saturday news
conference.

“We know just enough to know that we don’t know enough to
be able to press on into a launch situation tomorrow.”

The Atlantis mission, the third since the 2003 space
shuttle Columbia disaster, is a critical part of NASA’s efforts
to finish building the International Space Station before the
shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

The lightning bolt struck a thick wire at the top of the
shuttle’s seaside launch pad at about 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on
Friday. The wire is part of the launch pad’s lightning
protection system.

Engineers were looking at least two potential problems from
the strike, including a ground system used to vent hydrogen
from the shuttle’s external fuel tank and an electronic
component aboard the spacecraft.

If NASA can make a launch attempt on Monday it would be
under much more favorable weather conditions than had been
forecast for Sunday, with just a 20 percent chance of a
weather-related delay.

TROPICAL STORM ERNESTO

Tropical Storm Ernesto could also complicate NASA’s launch
plans for Atlantis.

By Thursday, the storm, which is projected to hit the Gulf
of Mexico, could develop into a Category 3 hurricane on the
5-step Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity, with sustained
winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 kph).

NASA is concerned the storm could pose a threat to its
Mission Control Center in Houston. It may also affect plans to
ship a shuttle external fuel tank from NASA’s manufacturing
facility near New Orleans in time to support an emergency
rescue mission, should Atlantis sustain Columbia-like damage
during launch.

Columbia was hit by a piece of foam insulation that fell
off its fuel tank during launch. Damage from the impact
triggered the shuttle’s breakup over Texas as it flew through
the atmosphere for landing on February 1, 2003. All seven
astronauts aboard died.

While the shuttle fleet was grounded for repairs and safety
upgrades after Columbia, work on the International Space
Station came to a halt.

Following two flights to test safety upgrades made after
the accident, NASA is now ready to restart station construction
with the launch of Atlantis.

Atlantis will carry one of the heaviest shuttle payloads,
including a 35,000-pound (16-tonne) power module for the space
station.

It is set for an 11-day mission. However, if NASA should
have to evacuate its Houston center, the six-member shuttle
crew would be told to leave the space station and land at the
first safe opportunity.