Strong Winds Blow 2nd Chance to Launch Shuttle

For the second consecutive day, strong winds prevented space shuttle Atlantis from lifting off Tuesday on a mission to fix the international space station.

Launch managers said they would try again this afternoon.

NASA is in a hurry to get Atlantis and its crew of seven to the space station. The station is slipping in orbit nearly two miles a week because of increased solar activity and is down to four functioning batteries, close to the limit.

The astronauts will use the shuttle to boost the station as much as 27 miles and replace the batteries. They also will replace a broken antenna and fix a loose crane.

NASA called off Tuesday’s launch with 40 minutes remaining in the countdown as gale-force gusts of 39 mph, well above the launch safety limit, swept the pad. The wind was so strong that it ripped off the lower tie of the American flag next to the countdown clock. It flapped back and forth on the flagpole until workers took it down.

“We knew our chances were iffy with the winds today, but it was the right thing to do to try,” shuttle commander James Halsell Jr. said.

The back-to-back delays cost NASA $1.2 million in shuttle fuel and overtime pay.

This will be the first time in 19 years that NASA attempts a launch on three consecutive days. It usually limits consecutive launch attempts to two to let the astronauts and launch team rest.

NASA decided to go for three this time, in part because of the convenient afternoon launch time and the fact that no shuttle problems have cropped up during the countdown, said NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham.

Today may also be Atlantis’ last launch opportunity for a while because of scheduled unmanned rocket launches and other operations. Unless the schedule is rearranged, the next launch attempt for Atlantis will be around May 11.