Mission
managers for the space shuttle Discovery are meeting tonight to decide whether they
should begin readying the orbiter in the event high winds force it to roll back
to the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a NASA report said today.
In a
written shuttle update, NASA officials said the agency's weather officers are
carefully tracking the approach of Hurricane Dennis - currently headed toward
the Gulf Coast - and its possible impact at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, where
Discovery currently sits atop Launch Pad 39B.
"The
current forecast shows only a slight chance of more than 40 knot winds
effecting KSC on Saturday," NASA officials reported. "A decision on rollback
would not be made until tomorrow."
NASA
officials said that simply deciding to make rollback preparations would not
affect Discovery's current July 13 launch target. In an earlier update today,
they reported that they would continue to monitor the hurricane's progress and
were moving along toward the planned Wednesday launch date.
Shuttle
managers hope to launch Discovery, NASA's first orbiter to fly since the 2003
Columbia disaster, at 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT).
Discovery's
STS-114 mission is the first of two test flights geared toward returning NASA's shuttle fleet to flight status. The 12-day mission will test out several new tools for
on-orbit shuttle inspection and dock at the International Space Station to
deliver vital supplies and replacement parts.
Hurricane
Dennis, currently a Category 3 hurricane according to wire reports, is expected
to roll past Cuba on Friday toward the central Gulf Coast. According to
AccuWeather reports, it may make U.S. landfall late Sunday near the mouth of
the Mississippi River.
Hurricanes
aside, NASA officials have acknowledged that Discovery's afternoon launch
already presents a challenge during a season noted for its rainy afternoon. But
flight rules calling for daylight conditions during launch, external tank
separation and docking - to allow the best camera views of vital shuttle areas -
have pegged the mission's liftoff to afternoon flight times.
"Launching
in the middle of July is going to be a challenge," said NASA launch director
Michael Leinbach last week during a mission briefing. "We hope [the rain] lets
up on July 13."
Discovery
has made the 4.2-mile (6.7-kilometer) trek back to NASA's 52-story VAB once
before this year, when it switched
its external tank for one with an added heater that prevents ice buildup on a
bellows unit. The shuttle returned
to its Pad 39B launch site on June 15.
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