Added Repairs Delay Shuttle Launch

The launching of the space shuttle Columbia on a satellite rescue mission was put off Monday until Jan. 8 to allow more time to correct launching pad problems and to let workers go home for the holidays.

Shuttle managers made the decision after assessing progress on lagging work at renovated pad 39A, which has not been used for nearly four years. A series of pad problems earlier caused two previous short postponements of the mission, which is to deploy one satellite and retrieve another that is falling to Earth.

With the problems blocking any chance to launch this week and with the holidays approaching, the managers said they would wait until after the first of the year.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration earlier had said there would be no launch attempt on Dec. 24, 25 or 26 so that most of the Kennedy Space Center’s 16,000 workers could be free for Christmas.

Columbia’s launching is not as urgent as it once was. A few months ago, it was believed that the science satellite the astronauts will retrieve, the Long Duration Exposure Facility, would fall back to Earth in January. That estimate later was revised to mid-March. The Columbia’s five astronauts are also to release a Navy communications satellite during their 10 days in space.