Forecast Good for Shuttle Atlantis Launch Monday

Shuttle Atlantis is ready to launch Monday afternoon at 2:01 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, FL. You can watch the launch live online through NASA-TV here.

(IMAGE: NASA)

This eleven-day mission will be NASA’s last trek to the Hubble Space Telescope for service, and the first since 2002. Five spacewalks are planned, when the team of astronauts will add two new science instruments, repair a couple others, and replace other hardware that will extend the already extended life of the telescope. Hubble was originally designed to operate for five years, but the telescope’s batteries have survived more than 18 years, making it the longest-lived low-orbit spacecraft. After the tune-up is complete, Atlantis will act as a “tugboat” of sorts, lifting the telescope to a higher altitude in its Earth orbit and distancing it a bit more from the pull of gravity.

(IMAGE: ScienceBlogs.com)

Atlantis will not make a pit-stop at the International Space Station during this mission, as their sole focus will be to visit and service the Hubble Telescope.
--Carrie

Storm Damage

Monica Fitzgerald sent in this photo from the East End, where wind gusts Saturday evening were 50 to 60 mph.

We Did It!

We finally made it through a day this May without rain! Every day previous we had seen at least a trace of rain, so we deserved a break. River and stream levels have dropped a little today, which is good news as well. But they are still running high - the blue dots on the map below indicate streamflow that is still above normal.



You can track river and stream levels at the following website:
http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/?m=real&r=va

Hope you had a great Mother's Day!

Aaron