spacetoday.net: NASA monitoring hurricane, to keep shuttle on pad

Updated: Sun, Nov 4, 2001, 4:34 PM ET (2134 GMT)
Originally Posted: Sun, Nov 4, 2001, 10:28 AM ET (1528 GMT)
STS-108 rollout to pad 39B (NASA/KSC)

Space shuttle managers decided Sunday to keep the shuttle Endeavour on the pad as a major hurricane in the Caribbean should stay clear of the Kennedy Space Center, Spaceflight Now reported Sunday afternoon. Officials met to chart the progress of Michelle, a powerful hurricane bearing down on Cuba as of Sunday afternoon. The hurricane is a Category Four storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale of one to five, with peak sustained winds of 215 km/h. Current forecasts call for the storm to continue moving to the northeast, with the eye of the storm staying clear of Florida as it moves towards the Bahamas. Because of the small probability of the storm veering towards central Florida, managers decided not to roll back the shuttle to the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building.