Shuttle Liftoff Is Postponed for 3rd Time

NASA scrubbed the launching of the space shuttle Atlantis for the third straight day Wednesday and may not be able to try again to dock with and repair the international space station until mid-May.

Although high winds at the space center were responsible for grounding the shuttle Monday and Tuesday, it was rain and heavy crosswinds at emergency landing sites in Spain and North Africa that caused Wednesday’s cancellation.

“We were there, we were ready and the weather just didn’t cooperate,” launch director Dave King said.

It was the first time in the shuttle program’s history that NASA had tried to launch three days in a row.

Still waiting in space for the seven Atlantis astronauts are the first components of the $60-billion international space station. The structure is losing orbit at a rate of about 1 1/2 miles a week because a long-overdue Russian service module cannot be launched until summer.

When Atlantis eventually docks with the station, shuttle commander James Halsell Jr. and pilot Scott Horowitz will use the shuttle’s thrusters to boost the station’s orbit to 250 miles above Earth.

Atlantis could be ready to lift off in three days, but conflicts with planned launches from the neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station make it more likely that the shuttle will be launched between May 3 and 18, King said.