(Updates with new target launch date) By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Sept 24 (Reuters) - NASA on Wednesday delayed the launch of its last mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope by four days to make up training time lost due to Hurricane Ike. The shuttle Atlantis is now expected to lift off at 10:19 p.m. on Oct. 14 (0219 GMT on Oct. 15) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The six-man, one-woman crew completed a three-day training exercise at the space center on Wednesday, which culminated with a dress rehearsal for launch. Commander Scott Altman and his crew -- pilot Gregory Johnson, flight engineer Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good -- dressed in their bright orange pressurized flight suits and scrambled into their assigned seats aboard Atlantis. The shuttle is at its launch pad and a second shuttle, Endeavour, is being prepared for launch in case the crew needs to be rescued, as Atlantis will not be able to reach the International Space Station for shelter. NASA added the rescue capability after the loss of shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven astronauts in 2003. The Johnson Space Center was closed for more than a week because of Hurricane Ike's strike on the Houston area earlier this month, forcing the crew to miss four spacewalk training exercises and two two simulations with flight controllers. "We'd like to have all the training as planned," Altman said. "There are a couple of things that I think we could still launch into space without and be fully trained and ready to carry out a successful mission." NASA would like to fly the Hubble servicing mission and launch Endeavour on a space station construction mission before Nov. 25, when sun angles become unacceptable for a shuttle to be parked at the orbital outpost. The agency has 10 flights remaining for the program before the three-ship fleet is retired in 2010. Atlantis' mission will be the fifth to upgrade and repair the Hubble observatory, which flies about 300 miles (480 km) above Earth. The crew plans to install two new science instruments, replace its batteries and gyroscopes and attempt repairs of two broken cameras. NASA expects the mission to last 11 days and include five spacewalks. (Edited by Jane Sutton and Chris Wilson)
Haitian relief workers (center and right) assist U.S. military service members embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, as they unload food and water September 23, 2008 to aid those ...
