Sept. 16, 2008 Work is under way inside the giant Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as technicians prepare space shuttle Endeavour for its rollout to Launch Pad 39B on Thursday. At Launch Pad 39A, preparations continue on space shuttle Atlantis, which is targeted for an Oct. 10 launch on mission STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will launch on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November, but will be on standby at Launch Pad 39B in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for Atlantis would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, it will move to Launch Pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on STS-126.
Image above: In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians monitor the movement of an IMAX 3D camera. The camera is part of the payload Atlantis will carry on STS-125 so that crew members can record their mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller › View larger image
Johnson Space Center Remains Closed After Hurricane Ike NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston remains closed after Hurricane Ike, suspending all training preparations for mission STS-125. The center likely will be limited to recovery work over the next week and may not be open for normal operations until the week of Sept. 21.
The closing prompted Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon to postpone the STS-125 program-level Flight Readiness Review that had been scheduled for last week. It is too early to know what effect, if any, the hurricane will have on upcoming space shuttle launches.