The launch of the shuttle Atlantis, which is scheduled to fire the $1.4 billion plutonium-powered Galileo probe to Jupiter, was postponed at least 24 hours Tuesday because of rain showers.
Atlantis' five-member crew, which already was five days behind schedule because of a faulty engine computer, had been scheduled to blast off on the sixth post-Challenger mission at 12:57 p.m. EDT, despite claims by environmentalists that Galileo should be grounded for safety reasons.But showers moved into the launch area, and the countdown was put into an extended hold in hopes conditions would improve before the launch period ended at 1:23 p.m.
The countdown was stopped at the T-minus five-minute mark, and NASA launch director Robert Sieck announced the flight would be delayed because of rain and low clouds over the shuttle's 3-mile-long emergency runway at the Cape and because of bad weather at an emergency landing site in Morocco.
"Looks like the local weather is not going to cooperate so we're going to have to call it a day," Sieck said over the radio to Atlantis' flight crew. "We'll configure for a 24-hour turnaround; however, we're going to have a meeting . . . before we make a final decision on a launch tomorrow."
It was a frustrating disappointment for Commander Donald Williams, 47, co-pilot Michael McCulley, 46, flight engineer Franklin Chang-Diaz, 39, Shannon Lucid, 46, and Ellen Baker, 36, who had hoped to kick off a five-day space mission with the launch of the Galileo probe six hours and 22 minutes after liftoff.
But the astronauts began unstrapping from their cockpit seats as engineers worked to "back out" of the countdown.
The launch team tentatively planned on a new launch try at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, but forecasters had said on Monday that conditions were expected to deteriorate Wednesday and Thursday.
Because of the positions of Earth, Jupiter and Venus, NASA has until Nov. 21 to launch Galileo on a convoluted trajectory to the solar system's largest planet or the spacecraft will be grounded for 19 months. Such a delay would add $150 million to the cost of the project, which already is seven years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget.
Atlantis originally was scheduled for launch Oct. 12, but the flight was delayed five days because of work to replace a balky computer bolted to the shuttle's No. 2 main engine. Workers also replaced a troublesome cockpit navigational "black box" late Monday.
Throughout Atlantis' interrupted countdown, security teams were on guard for anti-nuclear activists who, fearing a Challenger-like catastrophe would spread deadly radiation, threatened to block the flight by infiltrating the "launch danger zone."
But only a single protester was arrested for crossing a security checkpoint early Tuesday. Eight activists were charged Monday with trespassing at a restricted checkpoint.
After losing an appeal Monday on a lawsuit to stop the sixth post-Challenger mission, the protesters altered their well-publicized plans and vowed to stay away of the sprawling Kennedy Space Center and its heavily guarded coastal launch complex.
Nonetheless, NASA, which challenged the activists' safety concerns, deployed additional security patrols, heavily armed SWAT teams, night-vision helicopters and high-tech alarm systems to track any intruders.
The mission of the robotic Galileo spacecraft is to study planetary giant Jupiter and its many moons in an effort to learn more about the origin of Earth and the solar system.
The six-year flight of Galileo is a three-planet celestial billiard shot that will carry it once past Venus and twice past Earth for gravity-assisted slingshots that will build up enough speed to reach distant Jupiter.