Endeavour Rollaround Moved To Thursday

Because of an iffy weekend weather forecast, shuttle program managers hope to move Endeavour to launch pad 39A Thursday morning instead of on Saturday.

The unusual move from launch pad 39B about a mile up the coast would start at 8 a.m. and finish about seven hours later.

The decision came today as managers today finished a flight readiness review of Endeavour's planned Nov. 14 launch on an International Space Station outfitting mission.

No major issues were raised in the meetings that would jeopardize the targeted launch date, a Kennedy Space Center spokeswoman said.

NASA executives will set an official launch date during another readiness review scheduled Oct. 30-31.

Shuttles have only moved from one spaceport launch pad to another twice in the program's history, in 1990 and 1993.

The "rollaround," as officials call it, is being made primarily because modifications to pad 39B will begin soon in preparation for an Ares 1X test flight planned next summer and future Ares 1 flights.

Managers preferred to relocate Endeavour sooner rather than later so it will be in place for practice countdown training by Endeavour's seven-person crew next week. The crew arrives Sunday afternoon.

But the final go ahead won't be made until a weather check Thursday morning, and until a payload canister is safely out of the way at the launch pad.

Endeavour's cargo of station supplies and furnishings was delivered to the launch pad early this morning, and should be installed in the payload changeout room by this evening.

The mission will outfit the station so full-time crews can expand from three to six people.

Endeavour's move follows Monday's rollback of Atlnatis from pad 39A to the Vehicle Assembly Building, after its Hubble servicing mission was postponed until at least February.

IMAGE NOTE: Click on the image above to enlarge it, and again to make it bigger still. Under a waning full moon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 19, shuttle Endeavour makes its way to the launch pad atop the mobile launcher platform and massive crawler-transporter. After moving to launch pad 39A, Endeavour is targeted for launch Nov. 14 launch to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis.