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Shuttle’s Weekend Launch Is Readied

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<i> Associated Press</i>

NASA officials proceeded Friday toward a weekend launch of the shuttle Discovery after two months of delays.

Discovery is due to blast off at 4:45 a.m. PDT Sunday. Weather forecasters said they expect an 80% chance of good weather.

Liftoff has been delayed five times since mid-July for a variety of equipment breakdowns, payload document reviews and last month’s Perseid meteor shower.

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This is the fourth countdown. The third ended with a risky engine shutdown three seconds before liftoff on Aug. 12.

Once in space, the five-member crew is to deploy an experimental communications satellite and an ultraviolet telescope.

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