By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: July 12, 2009
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The space shuttle Endeavour was ready on Sunday, but the weather was not.
Gene Blevins/Reuters
Lightning struck the mast of the Endeavour launching pad during thunderstorms in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday.
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The shuttle was supposed to take off at 7:14 p.m. But, as the launch time approached, lightning and showers encroached within 20 miles of the Kennedy Space Center, too close if the Endeavour needed to make an emergency landing. NASA will try again at 6:51 p.m. Monday.
The delay is only the latest in a series of them. Last month, two launch attempts were called off because of a hydrogen leak. Engineers fixed that problem, but then lightning struck the launching pad Friday, postponing a Saturday attempt as the shuttle’s electrical systems were checked. On Sunday, no technical problems arose during the countdown, but then the clouds moved in.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/science/space/13shuttle.html
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