LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds. Blogger update, 11:45 p.m.: The RSS is in motion. The operation is expected to take about 45 minutes.
Kennedy Space Center workers plan to roll back launch pad 39A's Rotating Service Structure at 11:30 p.m.
Once the 13-story tower is opened to its launch position, Endeavour will be ready to be fueled for a sixth launch attempt at 6:03 p.m. Wednesday.
Mission managers plan to meet at 8 a.m. to give a "go" to load the shuttle's external fuel tank, which would start at 8:38 a.m. as the countdown clock picked up at T minus six hours.
Managers today agreed to launch a shortened mission on Thursday if necessary, if weather or other problems stall Wednesday's attempt.
Wednesday's forecast holds a 60 percent chance of good enough weather for Endeavour to blast off on a planned 16-day International Space Station assembly mission, according to Air Force meteorologists.
Endeavour commander Mark Polansky and pilot Doug Hurley tonight practiced landings in a modified Gulfstream jet. Polansky said NASA made a smart call to pass on a launch attempt today.
"Looking at the weather, we wouldn't have gone tonight," he said in a Twitter post.
Wednesday will be Endeavour's sixth launch countdown since June 13, and a scrub would tie a shuttle record.
The launch has required some replanning of mission activities to make sure Endeavour departs the station before a Russian resupply ship arrives July 29.
A Thursday launch at 5:37 p.m. would shorten the mission by a day and drop the last of five spacewalks, which was assigned to mission specialists Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn.
But today's forecast only predicted a 40 percent chance of favorable weather Thursday.
If Endeavour isn't off the ground by then, its next opportunity would by July 26, possibly July 25.
Endeavour's crew plans to wake up at 7 a.m. Wednesday, with an option to sleep in an extra hour, and eat breakfast a half-hour later.
They should be suiting up for launch around 1:45 p.m. and back out at the pad an hour later.
We'll provide updates here throughout the countdown. To sign up for text message alerts to be sent to your cell phone, use the black box on the right side of this page or click here.
3 comments:
New bumper sticker: "Shuttle workers can't get it up"
ANYONE KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THEY WASTE WHEN THE SHUTTLE DOES NOT GET LAUNCHED....YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW....AND I DO...IT IS DISGUSTING HOW MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE WASTED ON THIS CRAP....
JAMES DEAN....WHY DON'T YOU TELL US HOW MUCH MONEY THEY WASTE WHEN THE SHUTTLE DOES NOT GO UP....THAT IS SOMETHING THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW................
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