Shuttle Launch Ticks Closer Without Hitch

Space shuttle Endeavour’s countdown sailed smoothly into the final hours Saturday with NASA reporting no problems in the way of a launch this morning to retrieve a European science satellite.

Crews stocked up the shuttle’s science experiments Saturday and primed it for a 17,500-m.p.h. chase after the satellite, which is loaded with seeds, crystals and cosmic dust.

The mission also features a spacewalk to prepare for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission this winter and the debut of a commercial laboratory module.

Launch was set for 6:38 a.m. PDT, although Endeavour could lift off a few minutes earlier depending on the location of the satellite.

Good launch weather was forecast and the countdown was going well Saturday.

Shuttle managers decided a slight helium leak in Endeavour’s engine compartment posed no problem.

Endeavour and its six astronauts expected to rendezvous with the satellite, called Eureca, short for European Retrievable Carrier, midway through the eight-day shuttle flight.

Astronaut G. David Low plans to pluck the satellite from orbit using the shuttle robot arm as the two craft zip along at 17,500 m.p.h.--typical orbital speed.

Eureca is the largest spacecraft ever built for the European Space Agency. It weighs 4 1/2 tons, extends 65 feet including its solar panels and holds 15 scientific instruments.

It was placed in orbit by shuttle astronauts last August.