WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is silhouetted against a sunset sky. Space shuttle Atlantis is on the pad. Atop the fixed service structure at right is the 80-foot tall lightning mast that helps provide lightning protection for the shuttle on the pad. Atlantis’ October target launch date for the STS-125 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission was delayed after a device on board Hubble used in the storage and transmission of science data to Earth shut down on Sept. 27. Replacing the broken device will be added to Atlantis’ servicing mission to the telescope. In the interim, Atlantis will be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building until a new target launch date can be set for the mission in 2009.