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Satnews Daily
August 26th, 2008

Space Shuttle Has Repair Rendezvous With Hubble


Space Shuttle Atlantis prep'd for Hubble Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, August 30th. Atlantis is targeted to lift off October 8th to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The first motion of the shuttle out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building is scheduled for 12:01 a.m. EDT. The fully assembled space shuttle, consisting of the orbiter, external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, was mounted on a mobile launcher platform and will be delivered to the 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 August 5th 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 31st launch of space shuttle Discovery. NASA Television will provide live coverage of Atlantis' move to the launch pad beginning at 6:30 a.m. Video highlights of the rollout will air on NASA TV Video File.