CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Poor weather at the shuttle's overseas emergency landing site forced NASA to cancel its second attempt to launch Endeavour on an International Space Station assembly mission Friday.
Skies at the Kennedy Space Center were pristine, but across the Atlantic Ocean rain showers and clouds socked out emergency landing sites in Spain and Africa, at least one of which is needed in case the shuttle has a main engine failure early in its climb to orbit.
"We're just not going to make it tonight," launch director Michael Leinbach told Endeavour commander James Wetherbee.
"Thanks for trying," replied Wetherbee. "We'll try again tomorrow."
The shuttle has been grounded since Nov. 10, when a leaking oxygen line prompted flight managers to call off the launch. The faulty hose was located and replaced, but an accident triggered a potentially more serious problem. The shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm, which is needed to lift a 14-ton truss segment out of the payload bay, was hit by a work platform.
The mishap, which was blamed on human error, tore the arm's insulation, scratched its surface and cast doubt about whether it had sustained any structural damage. After extensive tests, managers cleared the shuttle for flight.
Launch was retargeted for 7:49 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The shuttle is scheduled to spend a week at the space station on a crew-exchange and construction mission.
