By Todd Halvorson CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Shuttle Atlantis might be moved off of its oceanside launch pad and back into a massive assembly building this week to protect the $2 billion ship from the potential wrath of Hurricane Debby.
That was the word from KSC officials Tuesday as Debby plowed through the northern Leeward Islands and began heading toward the U.S. Virgin Islands.
[inset]
The Boeing Co., meanwhile, still will attempt to launch a Delta 3 rocket on an $85 million demonstration flight early Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The 135-foot (41-meter) rocket and its payload a 9,500-pound (4,310-kilogram) satellite mock-up remains scheduled for liftoff between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (11:00 and 15:00 GMT).
Packing winds up to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, Debby barreled into the northeastern Caribbean early today, becoming the first tropical storm of the annual Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall.
Boeing still aims to launch the Delta 3 despite a possible threat from Hurricane Debby.
The storm swept over the northern Leeward Islands after passing by Antigua, the site of a key Air Force rocket tracking station needed to support the Delta launch.
No major damage was reported at the tracking station, enabling Boeing to press ahead with its
Delta 3 launch plans.At 11 a.m. EDT today, Debby was swirling about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and near Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Moving west-northwest at 22 miles (35 kilometers) per hour, the hurricane was expected to cross the Virgin Islands today and then skirt the north coast of Puerto Rico this afternoon and tonight.
With the hurricane moving closer to Florida, though, officials at both KSC and the nearby Air Force Station issued a low-level hurricane alert. Sustained winds at both launch bases are expected to reach 57.5 miles (92 kilometers) per hour within the next 72 hours.
NASA is hoping the hurricane continues its current track which would push the storm past the northern edge of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico without threatening KSC or the air station, both of which are located on the east-central coast of the state.
"I think were cautiously optimistic that this thing is to go the Florida Straits route and into the Gulf of Mexico," said KSC spokesman George Diller. "But there are some other [forecasting] models that show it turning to the north."
NASA, consequently, is seriously considering moving Atlantis off its seaside pad, where it is being readied for a planned September 8 launch on a mission to the
International Space Station.~
Strict NASA hurricane rules call for a shuttle to be rolled back into the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC if winds could exceed 69 miles (110 kilometers) per hour at the launch pad.
Such a move, however, must occur before sustained winds top 46 miles (73.6 kilometers) per hour to avoid damage to the shuttle during the 4.2-mile (6.7-kilometer) trip back into the assembly building.
Complicating matters is the fact that it takes NASA about 48 hours to move a shuttle back into the building once a decision to do so has been made.
NASA officials, as a result, could make a final decision on a move early Wednesday. Rollback, in that case, probably would occur Thursday.
"Tomorrow is really decision time," Diller said. "Tomorrow well be face-to-face with our principles."
Unclear at this time: Whether a move would delay the shuttles planned September 8 launch. That, officials said, would depend on how long
Atlantis remained in the assembly building.A roll back to the VAB would mark the 14th time since 1981 that a shuttle has been moved back to the assembly building from its launch pad. Tropical weather forced four of those moves:
- October 1990: Columbia rolled back to avoid Tropical Storm Klaus.
- August 1995: Endeavour was hauled off the launch pad just days before Hurricane Erin made landfall less than 50 miles south of KSC.
- July 1996: Atlantis was hauled back into the VAB when Hurricane Bertha threatened the east-central coast of Florida.
- September 1996: Hurricane Fran forced NASA to move Atlantis into the VAB again.
Senior Producer Jim Banke of the Cape Canaveral Bureau contributed to this story.
advertisement
