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Weather May Scrub Atlantis Launch

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By KURT LOFT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

Updated: 02/07/2008 12:11 am

CAPE CANAVERAL - Neither wind nor rain nor hail stops the U.S. Postal Service, but they do frustrate the people trying to launch space shuttles.

A weather front moving through Florida could put the brakes on the liftoff of Atlantis, planned for 2:47 p.m. today, when storm clouds are expected to linger around the Kennedy Space Center.

Air Force meteorologists give only a 30 percent chance of favorable conditions. If NASA begins pumping 500,000 gallons of fuel into the giant external tank about 5:30 a.m., the countdown will continue.

The seven astronauts were supposed to blast off in December on an 11-day mission to the International Space Station, but faulty fuel sensors forced lengthy troubleshooting and repairs on the pad. Now, with the shuttle given a clean bill of health, it's a matter of waiting out the weather.

If all goes well, Atlantis will take into orbit a giant science lab called Columbus, built by the European Space Agency. The 10-ton cylinder houses nearly a dozen science "racks" where astronauts will do experiments in near-zero gravity.

"Everything is ready to go," said Clare Mattok, a spokeswoman for the European agency. "Time really isn't a problem because we could wait on the pad until the end of March. This mission has been a long time coming so a few extra weeks of delays won't make a difference."

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration doesn't have as much wiggle room as it did in past years, however. The shuttle fleet is on target for retirement in 2010, and with less than a dozen missions left, the agency must complete as much of the space station as possible and make repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Atlantis' crew consists of commander Stephen Frick; pilot Alan Poindexter; mission specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim and Stanley Love; and European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. Eyharts will remain on the space station, replacing Dan Tani, who will come home aboard Atlantis.

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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