Sept. 24, 2008 Candrea Thomas Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4715 michael.curie@nasa.gov Kyle Herring Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 kyle.j.herring@nasa.gov MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-181 NASA ANNOUNCES NEW TARGET LAUNCH DATES, STATUS NEWS CONFERENCE WASHINGTON -- The target launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been reset to Oct. 14 at 10:19 p.m. EDT. A news conference is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce an official launch date. With the delay of Atlantis' launch from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 supply mission to the International Space Station, also will move from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 at 7:07 p.m. EST. The target launch date adjustments were made Wednesday during the Space Shuttle Program's Flight Readiness Review, which concludes Thursday. Detailed assessments were presented Wednesday by Mission Operations, Flight Crew Operations, and training divisions affected by the closure of the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, as a result of Hurricane Ike. While vehicle processing at Kennedy continues on schedule, the lost week of training and mission preparation due to the impacts of the storm led to the decision to slip the dates. The Oct. 3 news conference will follow the Flight Readiness Review, a meeting to assess preparations for the STS-125 mission to Hubble, and will begin no earlier than 4 p.m. EDT. The briefing participants are: - Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier - Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs, Science Mission Directorate Mike Luther - Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon - STS-125 Launch Director Ed Mango NASA Television and the agency's Web site will broadcast the briefing live. Media may ask questions from participating NASA locations. Reporters should contact their preferred NASA center to confirm its participation. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more about the two remaining shuttle missions of 2008, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov
