Posted: Mon, Feb 5, 2001, 12:13 PM ET (1713 GMT)
The countdown clock started Sunday night for Wednesday's launch of the shuttle Atlantis on a mission to deliver a laboratory module to the International Space Station. The countdown for mission STS-98 started Sunday at 10 pm EST (0300 GMT) at the T-43 hour mark: accounting for built-in holds launch will take place at 6:11 pm EST (2311 GMT) Wednesday, February 7. Current weather forecasts predict an 80 percent chance of acceptable launch weather and there are no technical issues of concern. Two spacesuits that were to have been used during the mission were replaced over the weekend after a welded plug in a fan motor of one of the suits failed a test late last week. The suits will be used by two members of the five-person STS-98 crew for the three spacewalks to attach the Destiny lab module to the station, the primary purpose of the 11-day mission.

Related Links:

•  NASA Human Spaceflight shuttle information
•  STS-98 press kit