NASA scrubs Atlantis launch under storm threat

CNN

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- NASA will not launch space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Ernesto threatens Florida, the space agency said Monday morning.

NASA said it will immediately begin preparations to move Atlantis from the launch pad, Dean Acosta, NASA press secretary, said.

Ernesto weakened to a tropical storm Sunday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said, but forecasters warned the storm could regain hurricane status as it moved toward Cuba.

NASA is dealing with a tight time frame for Atlantis. The launch window is from August 27 through September 13. But NASA has a commitment to the Russian space agency to launch before September 7, so the Atlantis mission will not interfere with a scheduled Russian Soyuz flight to the space station in mid-September.

The International Space Station will be dismantled after 2015 to be replaced with a new orbital station, a Russian Space Agency official said Tuesday.

"It is necessary because at present we can monitor less than 10% of Russian territory, but with a new station the coverage will be increased tenfold," said Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of the agency.