"The latest forecast update from the Spaceflight Meteorology Group in Houston's Mission Control is still predicting crosswinds and the chance of low clouds prohibiting launch tonight. The outlook predicts scattered clouds at 3,500 feet, the chance of the low deck going broken and creating a ceiling at 3,000 feet, more clouds broken at 6,000 and broken at 25,000 feet, visibility of 7 miles and easterly winds from 060 degrees at 12 gusting to 18 knots. The limit is 15 knots. "
NASA finished preparations in time to begin fuelling the space shuttle Discovery, but a windy forecast continued to threaten the Saturday night launch. Cold weather forced a slower burnoff of the fuel put in for Thursday’s try, and there was concern the tank cooldown wouldn’t be complete by the early afternoon cutoff to begin refuelling. The agency cleared that hurdle, but there was still only a 30 percent chance weather would cooperate for the scheduled 8:47 p.m. ET launch.
Nasa has cleared the space shuttle Discovery for a rare night launch after bad weather forced it to abandon an attempt early on Saturday. The latest weather forecast gave a 30% chance of favourable conditions for an evening launch at 2047 local time in Florida (0147 GMT on Sunday).
NASA managers postponed Thursday’s space shuttle launch until Saturday because of low cloud cover. Friday's weather is not expected to be favourable for a launch attempt but mission managers believe conditions will improve by the weekend. Launch of Discovery is now scheduled for 8:47 p.m. EST Dec. 9. Tomorrow's weather is not expected to be favourable for a launch attempt but mission managers believe conditions will improve by the weekend. During STS-116, the astronauts will deliver and install a girder-like structure, known as the P5 truss, aboard the station. The 4,000-pound component will make possible future installation of solar arrays. The crew will also reconfigure the station's electrical and cooling systems from temporary to permanent mode. Discovery's crew is Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Nicholas Patrick, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut.
Another Indian American astronaut, Sunita Williams, is all set to follow Kalpana Chawla into space three years after the latter along with six other crewmembers perished in the ill-fated Columbia space mission.