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**LIVE UPDATE PAGES ON ROLLBACK AND NEWS FROM RUSSIAN SOURCES ON OPTIONS**<\/em><\/font> \u2013 Live coverage of rollback.<\/p>\n **FREE VIDEO OF TODAY\u2019S LAUNCH STATUS CONFERENCE**<\/font><\/em> <\/em><\/font> First, one transporter will move the STS-116 stack \u2013 currently an MLP (Mobile Launch Platform) plus the early stacking of the Solid Rocket Boosters \u2013 into High Bay 2, making way for Atlantis to roll back into directly to the VAB. That crawler is now outside the VAB. (UPDATE: Now inside the VAB to move STS-116 stack).<\/p>\n The other crawler-transporter will pick up Atlantis \u2013 and the MLP she is standing on \u2013 once she is released from the launch pad, before making the eight hour journey back to the VAB. That crawler is now on the outskirts of launch pad 39B.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We pretty much did what we said we would do, by watching the storm and getting together and talking about it,\u2019 said Shuttle manager Leroy Cain. \u2018We made the decision this morning, cancelled out MMT meeting this morning, and told folks they should go back to their home centers until we can pick a new launch date.\u2019<\/font> <\/font> Offloading of the reactants will be completed by noon local time \u2013 at which time the pad is cleared of workers.<\/font> <\/font> The Cat 1 hurricane is now predicted to head right over the Cape, hopefully causing little damage, as that also will have to be evaluated for any potential rollback to the launch pad for an attempt in the second week of September.<\/font> Talks are on-going with the Russians at Roskosmos to work on a potential plan that would see the Soyuz launch window being postponed, with sources monitoring a \u2018potentially positive outcome.\u2019<\/p>\n That \u2013 if all goes well with the aforementioned turnaround of Atlantis after the hurricane, could give Atlantis a window of up to September 13 \u2013 as per lighting restrictions.<\/font><\/p>\n More to follow shortly. NASA Press Conference at 10am Local (3pm UK).<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/u><\/p>\n <\/em><\/font><\/p>\n <\/em><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As expected, Hurricane Ernesto has forced NASA to call off the launch of Shuttle Atlantis \u2013 ordering the rollback of the vehicle to the Vehicle Assembly Building. All eyes are now on discussions with the Russian Space Agency, as evaluations are taking place on delaying the launch of their Soyuz vehicle, to give Atlantis a […]<\/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-41962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41962"}],"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=41962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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United Space Alliance workers are carrying out dual operations, using two Crawler-Transporters for brining Atlantis back into the safety of the VAB.<\/p>\n<\/font>\u2018We made the decision this morning to begin preparations to bring back Atlantis to the VAB,\u2019 said Launch Director Mike Leinbach. \u2018We can\u2019t get back into the pad until after the offloading.\u2019<\/font> <\/font> Following, will be the disconnecting of the ordinance on the Shuttle, ahead of the first movement of the stack back towards the VAB.<\/font> <\/font> <\/font>\u2018Based on a conversation about Tuesday afternoon\u2019s weather, what we\u2019ve decided to do is try and get off the pad earlier. We\u2019d like to get off the pad tomorrow morning if at all possible.\u2019<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
\u2018We would stay in there as the storm passes, check the center to make sure there is no damage, before clearing the vehicle and the launch pad to take Atlantis back out to the pad \u2013 which might take a couple of days,\u2019 added Leinbach.<\/font> <\/font> \u2018The thing to remember is once we get back out to the launch pad, we\u2019re eight days from a T-0.\u2019<\/font> <\/p>\n<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n
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<\/em><\/font>LIVE UPDATE PAGES<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n