Discovery launch postponed due to weather

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Discovery launch postponed due to weather

Cape Canaveral (Florida), July 2 (DPA) A threat of nearby storms caused NASA to postpone the launch of shuttle Discovery less than 10 minutes before lift-off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The weather outlook remained poor as the US space agency mounted another attempt to launch the shuttle Discovery later Sunday.

Late Saturday, NASA meteorologists estimated a 40 percent chance of acceptable weather for the rescheduled launch during about a one-hour window beginning at 3.26 p.m. (1926 GMT). Clouds are likely Sunday afternoon with possible rain and thunderstorms.

The US shuttle fleet has been grounded since Discovery's July 2005 flight because of continuing problems with shedding foam on takeoff. The current launch would be only the second since February 2003, when the shuttle Columbia spacecraft broke up on re-entry due to a damaged heat shield blamed on foam at takeoff.

With mounting safety problems and maintenance costs, the fleet of aging space shuttles is slated to be mothballed in 2010.

Unprecedented precautions have been taken to protect the shuttle from the kind of damage on takeoff that doomed Columbia and that plagued Discovery's last mission.

Discovery is due to deliver German astronaut Thomas Reiter to the International Space Station (ISS) for a stay of up to seven months. He would be the first German astronaut to take up residence on the orbiting ISS.

Discovery's scheduled 12-day flight is designed to deliver water, food and clothing to the station. Astronauts are to carry out urgent repairs on the ISS and to test new technology for in-space repairs of the shuttle.

The shuttle's return to earth was slated for July 13 to Kennedy Space Centre.

Without the US space shuttle fleet to ferry crews, provisions and parts into space, the construction of the International Space Station has been interrupted and the orbiting outpost limited to two-person crews limited to mostly maintenance work.

If the lift-off is postponed again Sunday, additional launch windows could be available Tuesday and Wednesday.

Saturday's weather was acceptable for lift-off at the Cape Canaveral launch pad, but threatening storms were dangerously close to the shuttle's emergency landing strip in the event the mission were aborted immediately after launch.

Mission control cited the presence of anvil-shaped clouds, which carry electric charges and produce lightning that would endanger the spacecraft. Such thunderheads form easily in Florida's humid, subtropical climate and are common sight along the coast during afternoons, when brief but powerful storms can quickly develop.

The order to halt Saturday's launch came with the astronauts long since strapped into the shuttle and awaiting a trip into orbit. A large, outdoor digital clock at the Kennedy Space Centre stood still at 00:09:00.

US Vice President Dick Cheney had been in Florida Saturday to witness the restart of the shuttle programme.

Prior to the scrub decision, the shuttle was described as functioning normally and ready to launch. The shuttle's 47-metre fuel tanks were already filled with 2 million litres of liquid oxygen and hydrogen.

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Discovery launch postponed due to weather