Space shuttle Endeavour is on a launch pad, ready to rocket off on a rescue mission if shuttle Atlantis needs help when it flies to repair the Hubble Space Telescope next month.

The Atlantis hotel and resort in the Bahamas says it has laid off roughly 800 workers due to low occupancy rates amid the global economic crisis.

NASA pulled space shuttle Atlantis off the launch pad and sent it back to the hangar Monday to await a trip to the Hubble Space Telescope next year.

NASA moved shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad on Thursday for a flight next month to the Hubble Space Telescope after being waylaid by a pair of tropical storms.