NASA announces Atlantis roll out to launch pad for Hubble mission

William Atkins
Tuesday, 26 August 2008 07:02

Science - Space

If a problem occurs during the mission that prevents the crew from safely returning to Earth, the crew will be unable to travel to the space station (as a “safe haven”) because of the large difference in the orbital heights between the Hubble and the space station.

Because of this fact, the rescue mission will be ready at the launch pad, during the launch of Atlantis, in case such an event occurs out in space.

The space shuttle Endeavour, with its mission STS-400 Launch On Need (LON) rescue mission, has yet to be already been rolled out to its launch pad.

Information on the precedures to transfer astronauts from the stranded shuttle to the rescue shuttle, if needed, appears on the NASAspaceflight.com website "NASA Evaluates Rescue Options for Hubble Mission."