Rain Likely to Stall Shuttle Launch
Despite a dismal weather forecast, the countdown began Saturday for the rerun of a space shuttle mission cut short in April because of power trouble.
The shuttle Columbia was scheduled to blast off at 2:37 p.m. EDT Tuesday, but Air Force meteorologists gave the spaceship only a 1-in-10 chance of getting off the launch pad.
“At this juncture, it appears not very promising for Tuesday’s launch,” weather officer Ed Priselac said.
Thunderstorms and showers in the vicinity of Kennedy Space Center were expected to thwart NASA’s efforts to launch Columbia for much of the week.
Columbia is making a second attempt at a science mission that was cut short in April after only four days aloft. The flight was supposed to last 16 days, but NASA ordered an early end to the mission because of a troublesome electricity generator.
The shuttle’s mission is unrelated to the crisis at Russia’s Mir space station. Columbia is not equipped to dock at Mir and is too heavy to reach the space station’s orbit.
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