Discovery Delayed 2nd Time

Shuttle carries treadmill named for Stephen Colbert

(AP) - Space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts blasted off seconds before midnight (EDT) from Florida, lighting up the sky for miles around. It was NASA's third launch attempt. Tuesday's try was called off by thunderstorms and Wednesday's by fuel valve trouble. Discovery is hauling a full load of space station supplies, including a treadmill named for Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. More»

(NEWSER) - Lightning and thunderstorms in Florida today forced NASA to postpone the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, Space.com reports, the fifth delay for the mission. Officials are now looking at approximately 6:25pm EDT tomorrow, though there’s a 60% chance of bad weather; the forecast looks better Wednesday, with a 40% possibility of poor conditions. More»

Fuel valve concerns cause further delays to mission

(NEWSER) - The Space Shuttle Discovery’s mission to deliver the final piece of a solar power array to the International Space Station was delayed again today, only hours before scheduled launch, CNN reports. The mission had already been postponed a month so technicians could determine whether three valves that control fuel supply were in danger of breaking; continued concerns over the valves caused today’s delay. More»

Shuttle won't launch before May 16

(NEWSER) - Gabrielle Giffords is getting some extra recovery time before her husband's final space flight: NASA yesterday announced that the shuttle Endeavour would launch no sooner than May 16, reports Space.com. NASA managers made the call after meeting to take stock of repairs to a broken power unit, which had already delayed the launch by a week from its original April 29 date. Giffords is back in rehab in Houston, reports the AP, where she was spotted dining out with husband Mark Kelly and friends. More»

Unsure when next opportunity will come

(NEWSER) - NASA has scrapped tomorrow's tentative launch of space shuttle Endeavour, reports Space.com, saying that it needs more time to fix the broken auxiliary power unit that delayed the launch on Friday. "We're looking more toward the end of the week, maybe next weekend," says a NASA spokesman. "We won't know until tomorrow when our next launch opportunity is." The power unit is in a difficult-to-access section of the shuttle. More»