Sept. 19, 2008 On Sunday, the Atlantis astronauts are set to fly from their home base at Johnson Space Center in Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they will participate in the STS-125 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test next week. The training activities and countdown rehearsal will run from Sept. 22 through 24. Johnson Space Center is set to open on Monday, Sept. 22, for the first time since Hurricane Ike hit the area.
Contamination discovered Wednesday during preparations to deliver NASA's Hubble Space Telescope servicing payload to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A has been removed. Cleanliness is extremely important for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-125 mission to Hubble, and the teams have insured that the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier is ready to fly.
The Hubble payload moves to the pad over the weekend and will be put into Atlantis' cargo bay on Tuesday. It is too early to speculate whether there will be any effect on STS-125's launch, targeted for Oct. 10 at 12:43 a.m. The formal launch dates for space shuttle flights are determined during the Flight Readiness Review. The STS-125 review is scheduled for Oct. 2 and 3.
Image above: Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at Launch Pad 39B on Friday morning. Image credit: NASA › View larger image
In the early morning hours Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour successfully completed its slow 4.2-mile trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B. The journey took less than 8 hours, and the shuttle was securely fastened to the pad just before sunrise.
Just a short distance away on pad 39A, technicians continue to prepare space shuttle Atlantis for its targeted Oct. 10 launch on mission STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November.