third_scrub_000426 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Atlantis space-station maintenance mission was put on indefinite hold today after nasty weather at emergency runways in Spain and Africa forced NASA to scrub an unprecedented third consecutive launch attempt.
As it stands now, a flurry of major tests and rocket flights already scheduled on Floridas Space Coast are conspiring to push the next Atlantis launch attempt back to at least May 11.
Bad weather at emergency runways in Spain and Morocco forced NASA to scrub Atlantis' launch.
But NASA likely will try to secure an earlier opportunity with the Air Forces Eastern Range, which provides tracking, range safety and scheduling services for all launches from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
"Officially, we dont have any range availability until mid-May," said KSC spokesman Joel Wells. "So technically, anything earlier would have to be negotiated."
Coming up in the next two weeks:
- A rocket and spacecraft checkout test Thursday for the launch next month of an Air Force Titan 4 mission.
- The planned May 3 launch of a hurricane-tracking weather satellite aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket.
- The scheduled May 8 launch of the Air Force Titan 4 rocket and its cargo, a $250 million missile-warning satellite.
In addition, top-secret fleet ballistic missile tests reportedly will be carried out from submarines off the coast of Cape Canaveral during the next couple of weeks.
Air Force officials announced Wednesday following the shuttle's scrub that a Delta 2 rocket carrying a military navigation satellite is booked on the range for 9:48 p.m. EDT May 10.
The busy schedule effectively blocks any shuttle launch opportunity until May 18.
There is a chance, however, that NASA could negotiate for the May 3 date, which now is reserved for the weather satellite launch. Already a year behind schedule, NASA is managing that flight for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The launch scrub today was particularly frustrating for NASA.
Unlike Monday and Tuesday when high winds at KSC prompted postponements the weather in central Florida today was near perfect, with clear skies and relatively light breezes.
But in an ironic twist of fate, rain in Spain and powerful winds in north Africa would have made it too dangerous to attempt an emergency landing in the event of a serious problem after launch.
Strict NASA flight rules call for a shuttle launch to be scrubbed if rain is falling within 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) of an emergency landing site. Crosswinds at the runways cannot exceed 12 knots for an emergency landing after dusk which would have been the case today.
Rain showers were falling around both Zaragosa Air Base and Moron Air Base in Spain, and 16-knot crosswinds were recorded at Ben Guerir Air Base in Morocco.
Todays scrub was a bit of a rarity. It was only the fifth time in the 19-year history of the shuttle program that a launch attempt was canceled due to bad weather at overseas landing sites. And it marked the first time NASA had made three consecutive launch attempts.
The agency normally gives fatigued launch controllers a day off after two consecutive launch attempts. NASA decided to press ahead with the unprecedented third consecutive attempt because launch controllers were working normal business rather than overnight hours.
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