As dawn breaks over the Space Coast of Florida, space shuttle Atlantis stands poised for launch. Photo credit: NASA TVAs most of you know the Space Shuttle Atlantis suppose to launch this afternoon (2:45 p.m. EST) from the Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on its STS-122 mission. Due to weather it probably won't make it off the pad until tomorrow. Forecasters said there is a 70 percent chance that rain, clouds and possibly even a severe thunderstorm that would keep Atlantis on the pad for yet another day.
I have done a major update to our popular monitoring resource Monitoring NASA and Space Communications. This Adobe pdf document can be download at the link below. And the cost is free. It is free service from the editorial staff of Monitoring Times magazine. http://www.monitoringtimes.com/Monitoring%20NASA%20and%20Space%20Communications.pdf
As always if you have something to contribute, please pass it along to the author of the Monitoring Times NASA Monitoring Guide at the email address in this blog's masthead.
I have also put links to the major NASA documents regarding the STS-122 mission below.
STS-122 Mission Press Kit
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/203212main_sts122_presskit2.pdf
STS-122 Fact Sheet
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/204820main_STS122Fact_Sheet.pdf
STS-122 NASA TV Schedule
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html
Mission overview podcast from Mission Commander Steven Frick.
http://www.nasa.gov/mp4/208663main_ksc_011508_itow_frick.mp4