Space shuttle returns to Florida launch pad

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA reversed a
decision to shelter the space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday and
returned it to its seaside launch pad as the threat from
Tropical Storm Ernesto subsided.

The move rekindled hopes that the U.S. space agency would
be able to launch its first International Space Station
assembly mission since the 2003 Columbia accident before the
end of its current launch window on September 7.

“We’re headed back out to the launch pad,” said Kennedy
Space Center spokesman Bill Johnson.

The shuttle began its slow, day-long ride back to a
cavernous hangar on Tuesday morning to protect it from high
winds and rain expected from Ernesto, which was approaching
south Florida.

While the storm was still forecast to pass near Cape
Canaveral later in the week, it was no longer expected to be
strong enough to threaten the $2 billion shuttle, or a $372
million station power module packed in its cargo bay, NASA
said.

The launch window is determined by technical factors,
including the position of the space station, the angle of the
sun and newly imposed restrictions by NASA to launch only
during daylight so cameras can have clear views of the
shuttle’s external fuel tank.

Foam insulation falling off the tank during launch
triggered the Columbia disaster, which killed seven astronauts.
NASA has since redesigned the tank twice.

The September 7 deadline also is due to a planned Russian
launch of a Soyuz resupply ship to the space station. NASA had
asked about delaying the capsule’s flight to buy more time for
a shuttle launch but program managers said on Tuesday that
option was unlikely for technical reasons.

The next launch opportunity for Atlantis would have been in
late October.

NASA has four years to complete construction of the $100
billion space station before the shuttles, which are the only
vehicles designed for the job, are retired in 2010.