spacetoday.net: NASA leaves shuttle launch dates unchanged

NASA leaves shuttle launch dates unchanged

Posted: Fri, Aug 15, 2008, 8:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)
STS-124: launch (NASA/KSC)

NASA shuttle managers on Thursday decided against moving up the launch dates of the next two shuttle missions by a few days each. Shuttle managers had considered moving up the launch of the shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-125 from October 8 to as early as October 2, while moving up Endeavour's launch on mission STS-126 from November 10 to as early as November 4. Moving up the launch dates would have extended the launch window for STS-126, which closes on November 25. However, payload delivery delays for STS-125, the Hubble repair mission, made an earlier launch infeasible, and lost training time earlier this month when the Johnson Space Center was closed for a tropical storm kept NASA from moving up the launch of STS-126, an ISS assembly mission.