After Weather Delays, Space Shuttle Atlantis Reaches Launch Pad

A banner cheers the space shuttle on as it reached Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 2, 2006. CREDIT: NASA/T. Gray.

After two stalled attempts, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis rolled out to its Florida launch pad Wednesday as workers ready the space plane for a planned liftoff later this month.

Atlantis reached Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida just after 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) following a seven-hour trek from the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building.

The orbiter's Mobile Launch Platform - which supports Atlantis, its external tank, and twin solid rocket boosters - was on track to settle into final position on the pad at about 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT), NASA officials told SPACE.com.

Despite appearing hazy in NASA cameras at some times, while crystal clear at others, the weather appeared a welcome turn from the storms and lightning that prevented Atlantis' two previous rollout attempts on Monday.

"I think everything is looking good," NASA's KSC spokesperson Tracy Young told SPACE.com during the move, adding that current weather forecasts look favorable as Tropical Storm Chris approaches Florida's southern coast. "The storm is going to head pretty well south of us."

With Atlantis now at the launch pad, all the pieces are in place for NASA's planned STS-115 space shot to jump start construction of the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than Aug. 27.

The shuttle's primary load - a 17-ton set of new trusses and solar arrays for the space station - rolled out to Pad 39B last week, and sits inside the complex's payload changeout room to be installed in Atlantis' 60-foot (18-meter) cargo bay.

Construction of the ISS has been stalled since late 2002 as NASA worked to recover from the 2003 loss of the Columbia orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew.

NASA has now put two shuttle flights aboard the Discovery orbiter - last months' STS-121 mission and 2005's first post-Columbia flight STS-114 - under its belt and is pushing ahead to launch its first dedicated orbital construction spaceflight in more than three years.

Commanded by shuttle flight veteran Brent Jett, the STS-115 astronauts will stage three spacewalks outside the ISS to install two trusses on the station's port side to support two new solar arrays. Atlantis and its crew will also be the second shuttle flight to visit the space station's Expedition 13 astronauts in two months.

Discovery's STS1-121 mission launched on July 4 and arrived at the ISS two days later, ferrying European Space Agency (ESA) Thomas Reiter to join Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA science officer Jeffrey Williams aboard the station.

Jett and his STS-115 crewmates are expected to spend 11 days in orbit to complete their mission. The spaceflight's launch window currently stretches from Aug. 27 to Sept. 13, though NASA is hoping for a liftoff no later than Sept. 7 to allow a future Russian Soyuz spacecraft to rocket towards the ISS on Sept. 14.

• VIDEO: Shuttle Commander Brent Jett
• Image Gallery - STS-121: Space in Infrared
• VIDEO: Spacewalk in Infrared
• Complete Space Shuttle Mission Coverage
• NASA's STS-115: Shuttle Atlantis to Jump Start ISS Construction