The roll-out of the Space Shuttle Atlantis to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center was due to take place on 26 January in preparation for a February launch of the delayed STS 98 mission to deliver the US Destiny Laboratory Module to the International Space Station (ISS).
The flight, originally scheduled for 19 January was cancelled and the Shuttle stack rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for checks on its solid rocket booster wiring. The launch should now take place on 7 February.
The delay has caused a setback to NASA's Shuttle plans for the year, with the agency now conceding it is unlikely to meet its ambitious schedule of eight Shuttle launches in 2001, although the six to the ISS will be given priority.
One of the two other Shuttle missions planned this year for Columbia, on a science research mission and the fourth mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, are likely to be delayed by the refurbishment and servicing of Columbia, which is taking longer than planned. The orbiter, which last flew in July 1999, will not be ready for its next flight until November.
Meanwhile, NASA has stopped circulating the daily public reports from the ISS crew to the press and public on the grounds of "legal concerns with the Freedom of Information Act". The decision not to release the reports follows NASA administrator Dan Goldin's concern about descriptions of the station's teething problems. But outspoken ISS crew commander William Shepherd says that the reports should be made public.
Source: Flight International
