NATION : Bad Weather Forces Delay of Columbia Rescue Mission
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA conducted a stop-and-go countdown and waited until the last possible minute today before it knuckled under to clouds and scrubbed the launch of the space shuttle Columbia for 24 hours.
The launch was rescheduled for 7:35 a.m. Tuesday.
Air Force weather officers had bet 80-20 against weather permitting a launch today. But they said chances were 70-30 that conditions would be favorable Tuesday with a potential for low clouds and fog.
Columbia, with a five-member crew, is scheduled to spend 10 days in space to launch a Navy communications satellite and to retrieve a bus-size scientific satellite that will crash to Earth in March if the rescue fails.
Despite today’s rotten odds, NASA officials decided to go through the complex launch routine on the slim chance of finding a hole in the clouds and also to utilize the refurbished facilities on launch pad 39A, which had not been used in four years.
NASA estimates that a launch abort on a weekday costs an extra $624,000 at the Kennedy Space Center alone, including $377,000 in lost fuel.
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