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Wed, February 06, 2008 10:41:32 AMFrom:
CBS Space News
Subject:
1025a 2/6 Update: Weather now 70 percent 'no go' for Thursday launch
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CBS NEWS STS-122 STATUS REPORT: 41
Posted: 10:25 AM, 2/6/08
By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst
Changes and additions:
SR-37 (02/04/08): STS-122 mission preview
SR-38 (02/04/08): Countdown begins
SR-39 (02/05/08): Countdown status
SR-40 (02/05/08): Cain confident ECO sensor fix will work
SR-41 (02/06/08): Weather forecast now 70 percent 'no go' for Thursday launch
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10:25 AM, 2/6/08, Update: Weather forecast now 70 percent 'no go' for Thursday launch
A killer cold front that swept through the southeastern United States Tuesday will lose much of its punch by the time it reaches central Florida on Thursday, but shuttle forecasters say they now expect a 70 percent chance of rain and possible thunderstorms that would delay Atlantis' launch on a space station assembly mission.
Shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters said the outlook improves to 60 percent "go" on Friday with a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions on Saturday.
"I wish I had a better weather report for tomorrow, but we are expecting to have some significant weather in the area," Winters said. "We expect to see some cumulus clouds developing in the area, possibly some showers and there's even a potential for an inland thunderstorm. Our concern with that would be an (electrically charged) anvil coming across ... into the area. That would be a violation of one of our triggered lightning launch commit criteria. So we do have a lot of concerns for launch tomorrow."
NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding said the shuttle's countdown is proceeding smoothly with no technical problems of any significance. Engineers loaded liquid hydrogen and oxygen aboard the orbiter Tuesday afternoon to power the ship's electrical generators, completed main engine checkouts overnight and are wrapping up inspections of the external fuel tank.
NASA's Mission Management Team will meet at 4:45 a.m. Thursday to assess the weather and to give the launch team clearance to begin fueling. The three-hour procedure is scheduled to begin around 5:20 a.m. and launch remains targeted for a five-minute period beginning at 2:45:25 p.m.
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Quick-Launch Web Links:
CBS News STS-122 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
CBS News STS-122 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html
NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
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