Weather to Launch?

Weather plays a very important role in determining whether (no pun intended) or not to launch the space shuttle. Many questions have been asked about this subject during interviews and just prior to launch. I stumbled into this Kennedy Space Center News Release that covers the topic in it's entirety and I hope that it gives you a better understanding of weather launch criteria. I am sure that you will have many other questions after reading this release! Please remember that you can ask our experts specific questions through the Space Team Online!

We are fortunate today that we have so many tools on earth as well as in space to help us predict and understand weather. Do you remember hurricane Floyd from last year? Floyd is still vivid to all of us here at Kennedy Space Center because this huge storm came so close to our location and threatened the three orbiters that were here at that time. This satellite image is from NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, data from NOAA GOES. Visiting this site will give you a great appreciation of our earth's weather systems. Have fun!