Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : U.S.-Russian Space Mission Postponed

The first joint Russian-U.S. space mission in 20 years was postponed as rain, winds and lightning forced cancellation of the scheduled launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from the Kennedy Space Center. Flight managers said they will try again today, when a 10-minute launch window opens at 1:43 p.m. PDT. The forecast through Monday, however, calls for more bad weather. The focus of the mission is a planned five-day docking of Atlantis with the Russian Mir space station. The shuttle will deliver two Russian cosmonauts to Mir, then bring home the current Mir crew, including American Norman E. Thagard and two Russians. The mission is the first of seven planned dockings with Mir.