CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Endeavour will make another attempt to blast off for the International Space Station Wednesday after thick bands of water-packed clouds forced NASA to scrub a planned launch Tuesday.
Endeavour and its U.S.-Russian crew now are slated to take off from Kennedy Space Center at 5:19 p.m. EST (2319 GMT) Wednesday on a mission to ferry a new crew to the station and then return to Earth with the outpost's current tenants.
Liftoff had been slated for 5:45 p.m. EST (2345 GMT) Tuesday but bands of rain-filled clouds associated with offshore showers swept into the Cape Canaveral area, hovering over Endeavour's beachside launch pad.
Low clouds also hung over either end of the KSC runway, creating concerns about the shuttle crew's ability to safely touch down on the landing strip during an emergency landing.
What's more, NASA only had a 10-minute window in which to launch Endeavour on a course that would enable the ship to rendezvous with the international station.
"The vehicle is in good shape. The station is ready for us, and the timing and the weather just didn't permit (launch) today," NASA Launch Director Mike Leinbach told the Endeavour crew after the delay. "We'll try it again (Wednesday), and hopefully the weather will cooperate."
"God's in control of the weather," shuttle skipper Dom Gorie replied. "We'll wait for him."| Mission Updates |
| For the very latest updates on Endeavour's mission to the space station, the first place to look is our Shuttle Missions page. |
The forecast for Wednesday calls for an 80 percent chance that conditions will be acceptable for launch. Meteorologists, however, expect a chance of rain showers and low-level clouds.
Strict NASA flight rules prohibit launching a shuttle through rain clouds. The concern is that rain could damage the shuttle's fragile thermal tiles, which protect the ship and its crew from the intense heat experienced during atmospheric reentry.
Rain also could damage thermal insulation on the shuttle's 15-story external tank, which is filled with some 500,000 gallons of supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen prior to launch.
The same flight rules call for cloud ceilings over the KSC runway to be at least 5,000 feet (1,516 meters) to make certain that a shuttle commander could eyeball the concrete strip in the event of an emergency landing.
The launch scrub came amid extraordinary security and after an 11th-hour rush to send a small team of technicians out to the pad to remove temporary handrails inadvertently left in place on the shuttle's mobile launch platform.
With the two aluminum banisters located close to Endeavour's vertical stabilizer, launch forces could have damaged the ship's tail fin during liftoff.
Three technicians sped to the pad in a van, with safety officers urging them to proceed as fast as they could, but with caution. A minute-by-minute watch on the countdown clock was called out to the team as they rushed to the pad.
NASA closed circuit television cameras showed eerie shots of the technicians atop the mobile launch platform, enveloped in huge clouds of water vapor created by the boil-off of the supercold propellants in Endeavour's external tank.
The handrails, however, were quickly removed and the team scurried back out of a three-mile "blast danger zone" surrounding Endeavour's launch pad. The technicians cleared the area just 13 minutes before the planned liftoff.
Special security measures, meanwhile, were evident as NASA geared up for its first shuttle launch since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America.
Military jet fighters and helicopter gunships kept tabs on a "no-fly zone" set up by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move meant to keep aircraft from cruising within about 35 miles (56 kilometers) of the fully fueled shuttle.
U.S. Coast Guard cutters also patrolled a three-mile (4.8-kilometer) security zone off the coast of Cape Canaveral as well as a normal "launch hazard area" that extended about 65 miles (104 kilometers) northeast of Endeavour's launch pad.
A heavily armed security convoy escorted the shuttle crew to the pad along with a low-flying helicopter with snipers poised on its landing struts. Also apparent: A military Humvee topped with a 50-caliber Gatling gun.
The only apparent security breach took place about six hours before the launch scrub as a military jet intercepted a private helicopter that inadvertently strayed into the FAA "no-fly zone."
Having just bought a Bell 214 helicopter in south Florida, Kenneth Guthrie, 67, was in the midst of a cross-country trip back to his home in Washington State. Unaware of the no-fly zone, Guthrie was intercepted by an Air Force F-16 and then landed in a field near Christmas, Fla., which is located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of KSC.
Local law enforcement officials ultimately escorted Guthrie and his helicopter to a regional airport in nearby Merritt Island, Fla. Officials said the pilot would remain grounded there until after the shuttle launches.
The reason: Three small local airports, including the one at Merritt Island, are located inside FAA restricted air space and will remain closed until after Endeavour sets sail on its mission.
An Air Force official said there was "no malicious intent" on the part of the pilot. The incident, however, illustrated how serious the Air Force was about enforcing the "no fly zone."
"It clearly demonstrated that our (security) procedures work," said Maj. Mike Rein, a spokesman for the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, which is responsible for launch-day security. "It shows that we're going to take all reasonable measures to protect the shuttle and its crew."
Unprecedented in the history of the U.S. space program, the security measures will remain in place until Endeavour not only launches, but lands, back here at NASA's coastal spaceport.
A launch Wednesday, meanwhile, would lead to a Dec. 16 landing here at KSC.
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