Posted: Tue, Sep 5, 2006, 8:25 AM ET (1225 GMT)
NASA shuttle managers cleared the space shuttle Atlantis for a launch midday Wednesday, with no technical problems reported and good weather forecast. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off on mission STS-115 at 12:29 pm EDT (1629 GMT) Wednesday, with current forecasts calling for an 80-percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time. Should the launch not take place Wednesday, NASA is planning to make up to three tries in a row, though September 7, to get the shuttle off the ground before the current window closes. NASA normally does not make three launch attempts in consecutive days, but is willing to do so here to avoid having the launch slip into October. The launch had been scheduled for over a week ago, but was delayed first by a lightning strike at the launch complex and then Tropical Storm Ernesto, which caused NASA to decide to roll the shuttle back to the VAB, only to reverse that decision and send the shuttle back to the pad halfway in the rollback process.
