Space Shuttle Atlantis Counting Down, Despite Shaky Weather Forecast

The countdown is under way unimpeded -- in spite of weather patterns that don't look entirely promising. Nevertheless, space shuttle Atlantis is still scheduled to lift off at 11:26 a.m. Friday on the final flight of America's shuttle program -- STS-135, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.

Atlantis will carry a crew of four and the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station. The STS-135 astronauts are Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

Following a meeting of the Mission Management Team Wednesday morning, STS-135 countdown and weather updates were provided at a prelaunch news conference. Panelists included Mike Moses, Mission Management Team chairman and space shuttle launch integration manager; Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director; and Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer.

"We had a really smooth Mission Management Team meeting today," said Moses. "The vehicle is in fantastic shape."

Reported Leinbach, "The countdown so far is going extremely well. We're not tracking anything at all that would prevent an on-time liftoff Friday morning."

Winters gave her weather report: "We have a tropical wave that's out in the Caribbean," she explained. "That wave is actually going to come into Florida along with a lot of tropical moisture that's down to the south, and it's all going to roll into Florida in the next couple of days."

Based on these conditions, Winters predicted an 80 percent chance of weather preventing tanking operations, with a 70 percent chance of it standing in the way of launch on Friday. The forecast for the following days improves to 60 percent no-go on Saturday and 40 percent on Sunday.
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