spacetoday.net: NASA delays next shuttle launches

NASA delays next shuttle launches

Posted: Thu, Sep 25, 2008, 7:59 AM ET (1159 GMT)

NASA announced Wednesday that it plans to postpone the next two shuttle missions by several days to make up for training time lost due to Hurricane Ike earlier this month. NASA is now planning to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-125 Hubble repair mission on the evening of October 14, nearly five days later that previously planned. The launch of Endeavour on the following mission, the STS-126 ISS assembly flight, has also been postponed from November 12 to November 16. While preparations for both launches continued on pace at the Kennedy Space Center, the extended closure of the Johnson Space Center—which reopened Monday after being closed for over a week—lforced the delay. The STS-125 launch date will be finalized at a flight readiness review scheduled for October 3.