Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, DC          September 4, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1778)

Rob Navias
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)

Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, FL
(Phone:  407/867-2468)


LAUNCH ADVISORY:  96-181


ATLANTIS MOVED TO VAB; STS-79 LAUNCH DELAYED


     NASA managers early this morning decided to move Space 
Shuttle Atlantis off of Launch Pad 39-A as a precautionary 
move due to the approach of Hurricane Fran to the southeast 
coast of the United States.  Rollback of Atlantis will mean a 
slip in the launch date of Shuttle Mission STS-79 which had 
been set for September 14, 1996.

     The decision to move Atlantis was made around midnight 
and first motion of the vehicle off the launch pad occurred 
at 5:21 a.m. EDT.  Atlantis was back in the Vehicle Assembly 
Building (VAB) by about noon EDT.  The VAB provides better 
protection for the Orbiter systems against severe weather 
which may pass through the Kenndy Space Center area.

     NASA managers are assessing launch processing options 
which will be driven by how soon Atlantis can be moved back 
out to the Launch Pad 39 complex.   Depending on the path of 
Hurricane Fran, it is possible that Atlantis could be back 
out to its launch pad as early as tomorrow morning.  

     For planning purposes, NASA managers are using September 
16 or 17 as a target launch date.  The official launch date 
will not be set until Atlantis is back out on Pad 39-A and a 
new launch processing schedule is approved.


                            -end-