WASHINGTON, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - The launch of space shuttle Endeavour has been put back once again until Wednesday due to bad weather around the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, NASA said.
"Monday's attempt was canceled due to poor weather conditions within the launch area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida," NASA said in a statement.
Two previous launches were postponed after hydrogen gas was found to be leaking from a vent line connected to the external tanks. NASA technicians carried out repairs, realigning a fuel plate and installing new seals to rectify the problem.
The third attempt on Saturday was cancelled to "allow technical teams additional time to evaluate lightning strikes at Launch Pad 39A that occurred during Friday's thunderstorm."
"The outlook is better on Wednesday, with only a 40 percent chance of weather conditions prohibiting liftoff," NASA said.
The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and the completion of the construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be carried out in open space.
The Endeavour crew comprises Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette.
Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour, concluding a three-month stay at the station.
