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A rainbow appears near the space shuttle Atlantis as it sits on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center beneath dark clouds and a rainbow July 7, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The last flight of the space shuttle Atlantis is still scheduled to take off on July 8, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There is a possibility of a one to two day delay due to inauspicious weather.
Amber Philman, public affairs officer at NASA, confirmed to The Epoch Times this afternoon that everything is going according to the original schedule. NASA officials are optimistic about Friday’s launch.
“There are no problems yet, just weather forecasts,” said Mike Moses, chair of mission management team, at the Atlantis prelaunch news conference on July 6.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all possibilities for launch. “There is a 70 percent chance of showers and potential thunderstorms on Friday, 60 percent on Saturday, and 40 percent on Sunday,” said Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer. “The weather does seem to be improving each day, it is getting better although it’s not looking clean and green yet.”The countdown for Friday at 11:26 a.m. EDT can still be seen at NASA.gov.
