Does NASA need a psychic to predict launch weather?

NASA kept close watch on an approaching cold front that threatened to delay Thursday's launch of space shuttle Discovery on a science mission.

Shuttle weather officer Ed Priselac issued a forecast today calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The main concerns for the 10:41 a.m. launch were rain and thunderstorms associated with the front."We almost need to go to the Psychic Friends Network to determine just where the front's going to be," he said.

Everything else in the countdown was proceeding smoothly, officials said.

During the 11-day mission, the U.S.-Canadian crew will release and retrieve an atmiospheric-research satellite and conduct other science research.