Well, it's another launch day at the Kennedy Space Center.
NASA aims to launch the space shuttle Endeavour at 6:51 p.m. Monday. Launch attempts on Saturday and Sunday were postponed because of stormy weather.
Saturday, it was a lightning strike at the pad that prevented fueling. Sunday night, it was fast-approaching storms.
Overnight, workers are to try to replace a cover on one of the orbiter's thrusters. But NASA said that work could be done in time to pick up the countdown Monday morning for a launch Monday evening. Click here to read more about that repair work.
Here's a quick look at what you need to follow the events no matter where you are.
First, sign up for text message alerts from floridatoday.com/text and you'll get updates sent directly to your cellular telephone or handheld device beginning with fueling of the space shuttle, which starts around 9:30 a.m. this morning. We'll alert you instantly to key milestones, problems that crop up or if the launch is scrubbed.
Of course, we'll have live news updates, analysis and imagery here in The Flame Trench throughout the day and evening. We'll be simulcasting NASA TV here in the blog all day. Click here or on the NASA TV widget in the right-hand column. That coverage will continue through the astronauts' "walkout" from crew quarters around 3 p.m.
About 3 p.m., we'll add our own live broadcast to the mix. We're still working on the lineup of guests. We'll update you with that lineup later today.
If you need to find a good place to watch the launch outside today, click here for an interactive graphic showing the best sites around northern Brevard County. (But don't forget to sign up for text message alerts, so you can keep up with the count.)
Stay with us throughout the day for updates.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
2 comments:
I know NASA had to check for any damage caused by the lightning strikes, but would the weather have allowed a launch on Saturday?
I'm also curious about what caused the damage to the engine pod, and why it wasn't noticed earlier.
The damage to the engine pod was noticed earlier in the countdown but NASA engineers deemed it was not a safety constraint to launching. Once they had to scrub anyway for weather reasons and they determined there was time overnight to make a repair, they decided to go ahead and fix it. No reason to fly with it damaged if you don't have to.
There are differing opinions about the launch weather at liftoff time Saturday, but some say, yes, they would've been able to fly Saturday night if they were counting down.
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