Shuttle rollout on hold

The rollout of space shuttle Atlantis is on hold until NASA is sure Hurricane Hanna has passed and will not impact the seaside spaceport.

NASA's shuttle employees were informed this morning that preparations for moving Atlantis to Pad 39A are virtually complete, but that rollout is "on hold" until Hanna is no longer a threat. Rollout was targeted for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Hurricane Hanna's forecast track remains about the same as Monday.

The hurricane is predicted to aim directly for central or north Florida, but stop about 100 miles off Cape Canaveral and take a sharp turn to the north -- Thursday evening and overnight into Friday morning.

Winds at that time: 100 mph near the storm's center.

However, that would bring tropical storm conditions to the Kennedy Space Center.

And, of course, the predicted path is a forecast and the National Hurricane Center's "cone of uncertainty" indicates that the storm could make landfall anywhere along the east coast from Miami to South Carolina.
Kennedy Space Center is open for work today and preparations will continue on both Atlantis and space shuttle Endeavour, the vehicle being readied in tandem so it can be used to mount a rescue if the Hubble mission somehow runs into serious trouble.

NASA is on schedule still for an early October launch, with the 10th or 11th being the targeted dates, but timing is tight. While the shuttle processing team had been on track up until now, the payload preparation was a bit behind schedule.

Making matters more complicated is another system, Tropical Storm Ike, churning out in the Atlantic Ocean and also on a general course toward the southern tip of Florida. That storm could be impact the peninsula by early next week as a hurricane, forecasters predict. All the computer models show it headed far south of the Space Coast, but it's very early in the storm's development.

Image notes: The top image is the 5 a.m. track for Hurricane Hanna and the lower image is the one for Tropical Storm Ike. You can click on either to see a larger version. We'll update the tracks later this morning and you can get the very latest general hurricane news at floridatoday.com in the meantime.