Atlantis Takes First Steps To Hubble

By Nancy Atkinson - August 26, 2008 at 6:38 AM UTC | Missions
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Space shuttle Atlantis was rolled over the the Vehicle Assembly Building after hunkering down in the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center during Tropical Storm Fay. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. NASA announced that Atlantis will be moved out to Launch Pad 39A next Saturday, August 30 to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope one last time, targeted for an Oct. 8 liftoff.

The mobile launcher platform will bring Atlantis to he pad, atop a crawler-transporter. The crawler will travel slower than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The process is expected to take approximately six hours.

Repairs to Launch Pad 39A's flame trench wall were completed Aug. 5 after crews installed a steel grid structure and covered it in a heat-resistant material. The pad's north flame trench was damaged when bricks tore away from the wall during the May 31 launch of space shuttle Discovery.

NASA has several videos about the final Hubble servicing mission.

Find them here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com