Shuttle Launch Pushed to Wednesday

The Space Shuttle Endeavour won’t take off today according to the Associated Press. Severe weather scrubbed the potential take-off today.  The next window for a launch comes Wednesday at 6:04 p.m. EST.

“That’s the nature of our business,” mission commander Mark Polansky radioed to launch managers from the shuttle. “When the time is right, we’ll be here, we’ll be ready.”

Wednesday’s forecast looks a bit more optimistic with only a 40% change of severe weather predicted.

The shuttle’s planned 16-day mission to the International Space Station has been delayed a month, with launches postponed five times.

Leaks of hydrogen gas during fueling scrubbed launch attempts on June 13 and June 17.

NASA fixed that problem, but is now contending with summer weather patterns notoriously difficult for late afternoon and early evening launches.

On Friday, 11 lightning strikes near launch pad 39A led mission managers to postpone Saturday’s planned liftoff. Engineers needed time to make sure electrical surges had not damaged critical shuttle systems.

That assurance came Sunday morning, and most of Endeavour’s countdown proceeded without incident under clear skies.

By about 5 p.m., the crew had strapped into their seats.

But approaching storms soon became a concern. They ultimately violated two launch criteria, pushing within 20 miles of the shuttle landing site — a problem in the event of an early launch abort — and within 10 miles of the launch pad.

Endeavour’s crewmembers plan to deliver and install the third and final piece of Japan’s Kibo science complex at the station. They’ll conduct five spacewalks.

Tuesday might be Endeavour’s last chance to launch before July 27 because of an unmanned Russian cargo ship heading to the station later this month. Negotiations with the Russian Federal Space Agency could make Wednesday an option