The countdown to space shuttle Endeavour's 7:39 p.m. Saturday launch starts tonight, but the forecast is iffy. The threat of showers and anvil clouds drifting within 20 nautical miles of Kennedy Space Center offers a 40-percent chance of conditions acceptable for liftoff, according to an Air Force forecast released this morning.
The forecast and Endeavour's readiness will be discussed at a briefing coming up at 10 a.m. It features Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA test director, and Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer.
You can watch the briefing live here. Just click on the big picture above or the NASA TV still image on the right side of this page to launch a viewer.
Read the official forecast here. The outlook improves after Saturday, with chances for launch improving to 60 percent Sunday and 70 percent Monday.
Endeavour's crew of seven arrived at KSC Tuesday in preparation for the countdown, their third after two scrubs in June.
The countdown officially begins at 10 p.m. today, starting at the T-minus-43-hour mark. Personnel will be called to stations in the Launch Control Center at 9:30 p.m.
Processing work planned today includes the start of final vehicle and facility closeouts, checkout of backup flight systems and the loading of backup software into Endeavour's computers.
A paint chip on the left solid rocket booster has been repaired.
Endeavour is preparing for a 16-day mission to the International Space Station that will install the third and final piece of Japan's $1 billion Kibo science laboratory complex and deliver a new crew member to the station.
Five spacewalks are planned.
The crew includes commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Chris Cassidy, Tim Kopra, Tom Marshburn, Julie Payette and David Wolf.
IMAGE NOTE: Framed by branches across the Indian River Lagoon on June 16, space shuttle Endeavour waited for launch after rollback of the rotating service structure, or RSS, at left. After launch scrubs June 13 and June 17, Endeavour is set to try again at 7:39 p.m. Saturday. The launch will be Endeavour's 23rd flight. The shuttle will carry the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, on STS-127. The mission is the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the space station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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