In the early morning hours, space shuttle Atlantis begins to roll away from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. First motion was at 6:48 a.m. EDT. At left are the fixed service structure topped by its 80-foot lightning mast and the rotating service structure. At far left is the 300,000-gallon water tower, which contents are used for sound suppression during liftoff. Atlantis is rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to await launch on its STS-125 mission to repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis' targeted launch on Oct. 14 was delayed when a system that transfers science data from the orbiting observatory to Earth malfunctioned on Sept. 27. The new target launch date is under review. The space shuttle is mounted on a Mobile Launcher Platform and will be delivered to the Vehicle Assembly Building atop a crawler transporter. traveling slower than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The rollback is expected to take approximately six hours. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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