Will Try Again Monday Night

It is one of the oldest and most storied of NASA traditions... watching the next space vehicle destined to be sent into orbit make the long, slow trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida's Kennedy Space Center to the launch pad.

The shuttle Atlantis was due to make that trip Sunday... but NASA has announced the trip has been delayed, due to heavy rain and lightning in the vicinity. NASA reports it will try again Monday night, at approximately 10:00 pm EDT.

Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff from JSC sometime between August 27 and September 13, on the first scheduled trip in the aftermath of the 2003 loss of Columbia to resume construction on the International Space Station. During their 11 days in space, the crew onboard Atlantis for STS-115 will install the integrated P3/P4 truss segment -- that also includes two large solar arrays that will provide one-fourth of the total power generation capability of the completed station.

The trip was made possible by the efforts of the most recent shuttle crew, aboard Discovery... who repaired a rail-mounted cargo container, a needed component for any further construction efforts.

The STS-115 crew consists of Commander Brent W. Jett, Jr., Pilot Christopher J. Ferguson and Mission Specialists Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steven G. MacLean.

FMI: www.nasa.gov