Caught up in the midst of recent problems with the Hubble Space Telescope, the U.S. space agency finds itself coming and going at the same time.
Today, NASA rolled the shuttle Atlantis back into its protective hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fla., from its position at Launch Pad 39A. It was originally to have flown into space last week to make repairs on the Hubble (please see Hubble Telescope Failure Causes NASA to Scramble). Ironically, the orbiting observatory shut down unexpectedly on 27 September when the primary computer system controlling its science equipment and transmitting data from them failed. Since then, NASA has been trying to remotely initiate the system's back-up unit to operate the telescope's instruments (please see NASA Ready to Reboot Hubble Telescope). This has caused the space agency to postpone the latest Atlantis mission, STS-125, until next February at the earliest.
Meanwhile, shuttle Endeavour, parked in the interim at Launch Pad 39B, will be moved Saturday to the now vacant Pad 39A atop a massive vehicle crawler. Endeavour's upcoming mission, STS-126, will carry new crew members to the International Space Station. According to a NASA press release, Endeavour is slated to lift off on 14 November.
