CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is delaying next month's shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope because of problems stemming from Hurricane Ike and replacement parts for the observatory.
Space shuttle Atlantis is now set to blast off late at night on Oct. 14 for the last visit to the orbiting telescope. Liftoff had been scheduled for the wee hours of Oct. 10, technically making this a five-day postponement.
Atlantis' seven astronauts lost a week of training because of Hurricane Ike. The hurricane shut down the Johnson Space Center in Houston, which did not reopen until this week. On Wednesday, the astronauts finished a practice countdown at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Payload problems also contributed to the delay.
