Next Attempt Set For Early Monday Morning

Low level clouds moving into the Central Florida area violated launch rules and caused NASA to call off their first attempt to launch the Space Shuttle Endeavour today.  The call to cancel came less than 10 minutes from the intended liftoff time.

STS-130 Mission Patch

The weather reports used by NASA come from the USAF Weather Squadron based at nearby Patrick AFB. Visual confirmation of the weather is provided in real time by the Gulfstream GII "Shuttle Training Aircraft" flown around the launch pad and shuttle landing strip.

"We tried really, really hard to work the weather. It was just too dynamic," announced launch director Mike Leinbach from Launch Control Center at KSC. The weather had cycled between acceptable and unacceptable conditions several times with no clear indication that it would stabilize.  "We just were not comfortable with launching a space shuttle tonight," Lienbach told the Endeavour crew.

Reporters watch the Flight Director call for a scrub. Credit: Tim Bailey

"Sometimes you just got to make the call," replied Commander George Zamka from the cockpit of Endeavour, three miles away on the pad. "So we understand and we'll give it another try tomorrow night."

NASA is targeting Monday morning at 4:14am for the second launch attempt.

FMI: www.NASA.gov