Launch Danger Zone: Mariners steer clear

The U.S. Air Force is warning mariners to steer clear of a launch danger zone off the coast of Cape Canaveral during a four-hour period that brackets the time NASA plans to send up shuttle Endeavour on Friday night.

Endeavour and seven astronauts are scheduled to blast off from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. EST Friday. Liftoff is targeted for the middle of a 10-minute window.

The weather forecast for launch remains the same. Air Force meteorologists say there is a 60 percent chance that conditions will be acceptable for launch. The prime concerns are the chance of rainshowers within 20 nautical miles of the pad and thick clouds that would obscure the view of the vehicle in flight.

Range safety officers must be able to keep an eye on an ascending shuttle during the critical first part of flight in case the vehicle careens off course and threatens populated communities surrounding the launch base.

Check out all the details here in this official forecast from the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron: L-Minus 2 Weather Forecast

Mariners, meanwhile, are being asked to remain clear of a Launch Hazard Area in the Atlantic Ocean between 5:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Friday. The danger zone envelopes the area that the shuttle is expected to fly over as it makes its thundering climb toward orbit.

The exact coordinates of the danger zone are shown on this map here: STS-126 Launch Hazard Area

Violators can be jailed for six years and fined $250,000 under Title 33, United States Code, Section 1232.

Endeavours astronauts aim to fly up to the International Space Station and outfit the outpost for larger crews of six. Resident crews now number three.

The astronauts also plan to repair the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, a 10-foot-wide mechanism that is designed to rotate a massive American solar wing like a paddlewheel so it can constantly track the sun while the outpost is circling Earth, maximizing solar energy collection and electrical output.

The so-called SARJ has not been operating properly since the summer of 2007.

NASA will hold its prelaunch news conference today at 11 a.m., and the briefing will be webcast live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the right hand side of this page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage of the briefing.

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Refresh this page to seethe latest still images from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center.