Disaster plan in place for Hubble mission

HOUSTON, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. space officials said a second shuttle will rescue the crew of the shuttle Atlantis if an emergency arises on Hubble repair mission STS-125.

Astronauts on the Hubble space telescope repair mission, scheduled for later this year, won't be close enough to reach the International Space Station if there are problems during the mission, ABC News said Monday.

NASA said the shuttle Endeavour will be on its launch pad during the repair mission, ready to launch within days if needed.

"The only way to get a rescue capability on the pad is to prepare two shuttles, have them ready to go, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin told ABC News. "The second shuttle will be a normal space station mission shuttle and we will use it for that if it is not needed for the rescue."