Atlantis is moved to launch pad

NASA moved the space shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad for a flight next month to the Hubble Space Telescope after being waylaid by two tropical storms.

Atlantis is supposed to blast off Oct. 8 on NASA’s final visit to Hubble, but it is expected to be delayed a couple of days because of work lost to Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna. A technical problem with the hookup between the shuttle and its external fuel tank also stalled operations.

Fay dumped an extraordinary amount of rain on the area two weeks ago and shut down Kennedy Space Center for three days. Hanna threatened to do the same but for now was expected to remain far offshore.