No Damage Reported To Shuttle, Facilities

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 08.31.06 1330 EDT: After confirming the shuttle Atlantis successfully rode out the worst of Tropical Storm Ernesto on launch pad 39-B, NASA has given the go-ahead for another launch attempt next Wednesday, September 6.

"We're back," said NASA spokesman Bill Johnson. "There was no water intrusion in any operational areas, and so basically we came through this one unscathed."

The launch time was set for 12:29 EDT on Wednesday. Should Atlantis not be able to lift off then, the Associated Press reports NASA will have two other opportunities for launch.

The six astronauts who make up the crew of STS-115 are expected to return to Florida Saturday morning, after flying back to Houston earlier this week as the storm approached Cape Canaveral.

Original Report

Workers are returning to Florida's Kennedy Space Center, which had briefly closed in advance of Tropical Storm Ernesto. No damage to facilities on Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has been found.

The storm hit the complex late Wednesday... with peak winds of 44 mph recorded at Launch Pad 39-B, and 56 mph measured at the top of a weather tower north of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

The space center received 4.16 inches of reain from the storm, which is now advancing towards the coasts of the Carolinas.

As Aero-News reported earlier this week, NASA engineers made an abrupt turnaround Tuesday, choosing to return the space shuttle Atlantis to pad 39-B after workers had begun to move the orbiter back to the VAB to wait out the approaching storm. A downgraded weather forecast led to the reversal.

It appears that gamble paid off -- as no apparent damage to Atlantis, or to the Delta II rocket for the STEREO mission at Pad 17-B, has been found. Inspections are continuing today.

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis is targeted for no earlier than Wednesday, September 6.

FMI: www.nasa.gov