Scrub!

A low overcast above pre-dawn Florida forced NASA managers to postpone launch of the space shuttle Endeavour early today, sending the orbiter's six-member crew back to quarters until another attempt as early as tomorrow.



NASA TV

Launch constraints flickered from red - no go - to green to red as a south-moving cloud cover scattered and reformed over Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Launch Director Mike Leinbach decided the situation was too dynamic for a launch attempt today.





NASA TV

"The weather has been coming and going," Leinbach called on the launch-control network. "It's outside the experience base I've been been experiencing  since I've had this job. I'd personally be no go for launch tonight."

"Sometimes you just gotta make the call; we understand," radioed STS-130 mission commander George Zamka from his perch in the left seat on Endeavour's flight deck.

The scrub came at 4:30 a.m. EST, leaving managers to decide if the weather forecast warrants another attempt at 4:14 a.m. EST Monday, or a delay until Tuesday morning. The upcoming launch of NASA's Solar Dynamics Laboratory will slip day-for-day from its original Tuesday time.

Endeavour's two-week mission will deliver the Italian-built Tranquility Node to the International Space Station. Built to hold life support and exercise equipment for the ISS crew, the node will also be the site of the long-awaited station cupola. Mounted for launch on the front of the node, it will give station crew members a 360-degree view of their surroundings through seven windows - six on the sides and one on top.

Three spacewalks are planned for the mission to connect Tranquility to station systems and relocate the cupola to the node's side.

Tags: os99, STS130, Endeavour, ISS, launch