Stefanyshyn-Piper awaits her journey into space as weather delays shuttle (09/03/06)

Stefanyshyn-Piper awaits her journey into space as weather delays shuttle

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - NASA's STS-115 mission, which is to take the first Ukrainian American astronaut into space, has been delayed due to threatening weather conditions.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, who hails from St. Paul, Minn., is a mission specialist on the six-member crew that also includes Commander Brent W. Jett Jr., Pilot Christopher J. Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank and Steven G. MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space Agency.

At press time, September 6, 7 and 8 were being considered as potential launch dates, depending on how Tropical Storm Ernesto affected the Kennedy Space Center.

The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis was first delayed after a Friday, August 25, lightning strike at Launch Pad 39B, where Atlantis was in place and ready for lift off two days later. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration then decided to scrub the August 27 launch in order to assess possible damage to the pad. The launch was rescheduled for Tuesday, August 29, at 3:42 p.m.

Next, according to the NASA website, a decision was made on Tuesday morning, August 29, to move Atlantis off its launch pad and back inside the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of the approach of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was expected to bring high winds as it passed the center. The rollback began at 10:04 a.m. that day.

It was also reported at that time that a new launch date had not yet been scheduled for STS-115, which is to journey to the International Space Station. Atlantis would require eight days of launch preparations once it was returned to Launch Pad 39B. Meanwhile, the STS-115 crew was to return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to continue training while awaiting a new target launch date, the NASA website reported.

Later on Tuesday, August 29, it was reported that NASA mission managers had decided to return Atlantis to Launch Pad 39B, a task that was completed by that evening. The decision was made at 2:40 p.m. as Ernesto was then predicted to hit further west than originally expected, which meant that the shuttle could safely ride out the storm on the launch pad.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper, who was active in the Ukrainian community of St. Paul-Minneapolis, is of Ukrainian and German ancestry. Her father, the late Michael Stefanyshyn, was born in Ukraine, while her mother, Adelheid, was a German immigrant.

STS-115 is to resume construction of the International Space Station. Its mission is to install a 17.5-ton segment of the station's truss backbone which includes two large solar arrays that will provide 25 percent of the total power-generation capability of the station once it is completed.

The current launch window for the mission closes on September 13.

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