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Storm Clouds Delay Shuttle's Launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 31 — The space shuttle Endeavour will remain grounded until at least Monday as a result of a dismal weather forecast that calls for thunderstorms throughout the weekend here at the Kennedy Space Center.
Delayed twice by bad weather, Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts are to blast off for the International Space Station sometime between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday. Citing security after Sept. 11, the exact time of the launching is being withheld until 24 hours prior to liftoff.
The prospects for a launching Monday are gloomy, officials with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said today. Seasonal summer storms are forecast for the central Florida area throughout the coming week.
A band of electrically charged clouds forced an initial launching delay Thursday. NASA flight rules call for a launching to be postponed in such conditions.
NASA managers cancelled a second launching attempt earlier today after forecasters issued a severe thunderstorm warning. The decision to put off the next launching attempt until Monday was made at a subsequent meeting of NASA managers.
The shuttle is to carry a new resident crew of three to the space station and then return to Earth in mid-June with the outpost's current tenants, who have been in space since Dec. 5.
The astronauts also plan to install a mobile work platform for the station's $600 million robotic arm and repair a faulty mechanism on the cranelike device, which is essential to future station construction.
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