Shuttle’s Weekend Launch Is Readied
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.
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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