The space shuttle Discovery will have to wait 24 hours before it blasts off for the International Space Station.
Discovery was scheduled for launch early this morning but severe weather caused NASA officials to delay the launch, according to reports. Discovery will try again tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 1:36 a.m. EST.
Thunderstorms in the area kept the shuttle on the launching pad, reports the Associated Press. A lightning strike five miles from where the shuttle was due to launch and heavy rains contributed to the decision to postpone.
Launch director Pete Nickolenko waited as long as he could before halting the countdown to the early Tuesday liftoff.
Discovery’s most prominent payload is NASA’s new $5 million treadmill, which is named after Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. He could not attend the launch, but said in a recorded message that he couldn’t be prouder that his treadmill soon will be installed at the space station “to help finally slim down all those chubby astronauts.”
Colbert poked fun at NASA’s choice of Tranquility for the chamber, which will be launched early next year. “Yeah, that will scare the aliens,” he said. He ended his televised message by shouting, “I am ‘go’ to launch me. Let’s light this candle!”
In all, the space shuttle will deliver about 17,000 pounds of gear to the space station. The experiments include six mice that will remain at the orbiting outpost until the following shuttle visit in November. Part of a bone loss study, the mice will be the first mammal creatures — other than humans — to spend a prolonged period at the space station.
Three spacewalks are scheduled to be performed during the 13-day shuttle flight, to install a new ammonia tank, part of the space station’s cooling system, and replace other equipment and retrieve outdoor experiments. And the station will get a new resident, Nicole Stott. She will replace an astronaut who moved in during the last shuttle flight last month. That spaceman will return to Earth aboard Discovery, as will Buzz Lightyear. The action figure toy has been in orbit for more than a year.
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