NASA resumed preparations for the upcoming shuttle launch as Hurricane Dennis's path shifted away from the east coast of Florida.
Discovery is scheduled to lift off Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in the first U.S. launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
"The hurricane did us a favor and took a slight jaunt," Jim Kennedy, the space center's director, told the Houston Chronicle. "When things started to turn in our favor, we had high confidence in the trend, or we would not have committed to stay on the pad."
Moving the shuttle into the Vehicle Assembly Building would have forced NASA to postpone the launch for at least a week. The launch pad can protect the shuttle against winds of up to 80 mph, about twice the 40 mph winds now predicted at the space center.
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