**LIVE UPDATE PAGES ON STS-115, WEATHER UPDATES AND MORE**<\/em><\/font> <\/p>\n STS-115 will attempt to launch at the end of the current window, taking in two possible attempts on September 6 and 7.<\/font><\/p>\n Space Shuttle Program\u2019s Leroy Cain explained the decision to go back to the pad with Atlantis was based on new forecast information, which showed that the orbiter would be ok to stay at the pad, protected by the Rotating Service Structure (RSS), whilst riding out the storm.<\/p>\n \u2018We came in last night and saw some indication that some of the forecasts were favourable, that the storm wasn\u2019t going to be as intense,\u2019 said Cain. \u2018So we came back in this morning to have a look at it again \u2013 and by the time we needed to make a decision to rollback, the forecast was not quite good enough.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018It was very close, and by that I don\u2019t mean close as in pushing it, it was close to being near the kinda margin we like to have.\u2019 <\/font><\/p>\n Also key for the U-turn was the ability to change their decision before Atlantis had taken in over half the journey back to the VAB. The trip back to the pad before that point would ultimately ensure that the crawler-transporter she was riding on would not exceed the total journey time by turning around before the half way point. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We basically had a lot of discussions, and at one point it was decided the decision time was not when we rolled back, but when we got to a point of no return (in the rollback).<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018Essentially, that\u2019s where we got to. With the kind of forecast we have now, we can have the RSS around the stack, as the wind levels won\u2019t be high enough. Once we got forecast of the storm that was within our criteria for being at the launch pad, I felt comfortable, and thought it was the right thing to do.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/font> \u2018Yes I think it was a difficult decision this time, because there is always uncertainty in the track and intensity of the hurricanes,\u2019 said Hale, who was party to discussions this morning, following new weather forecasts that showed the storm was weakening as it left Cuba. <\/font><\/p>\n However, he claimed the risk involved with leaving the multi-billion dollar vehicle on the pad was simply not worth it, as Atlantis was moved away from Pad 39B this morning.<\/p>\n \u2018There was some talk this morning on whether the storm had degraded, to a level where we\u2019d be better to weather it on the pad,\u2019 added Hale. <\/p>\n \u2018The professional weather forecasters that we have at the Kennedy Space Center and through the United States Air Force gave their professional opinion that we could see winds of over 70 knots \u2013 at least in gusts \u2013 and that is the criteria that we don\u2019t want to stay on the pad for.\u2019 <\/p>\n <\/font>Atlantis will target a launch date that will comply with the end of the window, September 7, to carry out her mission to install the P3\/P4 truss and solar panels into the International Space Station (ISS) configuration.<\/p>\n <\/font> **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/u><\/p>\n <\/em><\/font><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA has literally U-turned their decision \u2013 for the first time in NASA history \u2013 to rollback Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and she is has now arrived back at launch pad 39B. Forecasts have shown that tropical storm Ernesto is weakening, as it heads towards the Cape \u2013 which means Atlantis will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/font>Earlier, Shuttle manager Wayne Hale noted how difficult the decision was to rollback Atlantis.<\/p>\n
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<\/em><\/font>LIVE UPDATE PAGES<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n