Countdown begins for launch
2008-03-08 22:01
Cape Canaveral - Countdown clocks
at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida began ticking on
Saturday toward Tuesday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour
carrying a Japanese lab section and Canadian-built robot for
the International Space Station.
Liftoff is targeted for 0628 GMT.
Meteorologists predicted clear skies and light breezes, with a
90% chance conditions would be suitable for liftoff.
The seven-man Endeavour crew arrived at the Florida
spaceport early on Saturday, delayed several hours by a cold
front pushing through central Florida that whipped up winds,
thunderstorms and sporadic heavy rain.
"We've had some interesting weather over the last 24
hours," shuttle weather officer Todd McNamara told reporters on
Saturday.
The crew includes two veteran Nasa astronauts: commander
Dominic Gorie and lead spacewalker Richard Linnehan; rookies
Greg Johnson, Michael Foreman, Robert Behnken and Garrett
Reisman; and Japan's Takao Doi, who flew on a shuttle research
mission in 1997.
Reisman will replace France's Leopold Eyharts as a member
of the space station crew.
"We all just wanted to convey how excited we are to be here
for launch week," Gorie said after the crew's belated arrival.
"We've got a very, very ambitious flight schedule, but with a
great orbiter waiting for us and this great crew, we're going
to have a great mission."
The shuttle is scheduled to spend 16 days in orbit, Nasa's
longest planned mission to the space station so far. With just
11 flights remaining to the orbital outpost, Nasa wants to
squeeze in as much construction and maintenance time as
possible before the shuttles are retired in two years.
A 12th shuttle mission to upgrade and repair the Hubble
Space Telescope is planned for later this year.
During their 12 days at the station, Endeavour's astronauts
plan to conduct five spacewalks to install the first part of
Japan's Kibo complex and set up a robot to help with station
maintenance and other tasks. The main part of Kibo, which is
Japanese for "hope," is due to arrive in May.