Date: August 28th 2006

Aug 28, 2006

Allard Beutel/Bruce Buckingham Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468

RELEASE: 06-302

TROPICAL STORM ERNESTO FORCES SHUTTLE ATLANTIS' LAUNCH DELAY

Tuesday's scheduled launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on its STS-115 mission to the International Space Station is being postponed because of Tropical Storm Ernesto A new launch date has not been set

Although no final decision has been made, shuttle managers meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Center instructed launch teams Monday to continue preliminary preparations to roll Atlantis off its launch pad and back inside the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building Managers will follow developments in Tropical Storm Ernesto's track A decision on whether to roll back is expected by midday Tuesday

Ernesto is forecast to pass near Kennedy on Wednesday afternoon

The STS-115 crew will remain in Florida until a roll back decision is made Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson, and mission specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean will study flight plans and spend time with their families

During STS-115, Atlantis' astronauts will deliver and install the 17 5-ton, bus-sized P3/P4 integrated truss segment on the station The girder-like truss includes a set of giant solar arrays, batteries and associated electronics The P3/P4 truss segment will provide one-fourth of the total power-generation capability for the completed station

For information about the STS-115 crew and its mission to the International Space Station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/shuttle

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: BULK_EMAIL

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: