Image above: This vertical view of Hurricane Ernesto was taken by the crew of the International Space Station on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006, from an altitude of about 215 miles. At that time, Ernesto was approaching Cuba and was expected to eventually make landfall on the coast of southern Florida. Photo credit: NASA

Ernesto forces Atlantis rollback preparations

NASA mission managers announced at a midmorning briefing today that rollback preparations are proceeding, ensuring that Space Shuttle Atlantis would be safely back in the Vehicle Assembly Building before effects from Tropical Storm Ernesto would be felt at the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's east coast.

Leroy Cain, mission management team chairman, explained, "We pretty much did what we said we were going to do. We got together this morning and talked about it and didn't see any significant change for the good."

"We'd like to get off the pad tomorrow morning if at all possible," said Launch Director Mike Leinbach. "Based on tomorrow afternoon's local weather, we'd much rather be back in the VAB earlier rather than later."

Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters described the effects that the Kennedy Space Center could receive from Ernesto if the current track and strength holds, predicting tropical storm force winds Wednesday morning and hurricane force winds by 5 p.m. EDT.

Earlier in the day, mission managers decided to scrub Tuesday's scheduled launch attempt, since rollback would need to start by mid-day.

NASA's launch window extends to Sept. 13, but mission managers were hoping to launch by Sept. 7 to avoid a conflict with a Russian Soyuz rocket also bound for the International Space Station. Officials are talking with our Russian partners about the issue.

Atlantis would require eight days of launch preparations once it was returned to Launch Pad 39B.

When launched, STS-115 will carry two Radio Amateurs into space, Mission Specialists Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, KD5TVR, and Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX

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