NASA Space Station Shuttle Again Postponed

Thunderstorms have obligatory NASA to delay July 12th Sunday evening's launch of space shuttle Endeavour.

The launch team came within minutes of transfer Endeavour and seven astronauts to the international space station. But storms moving in from the west were in contravention of NASA's safety rules, and managers called everything off. They will try again today July 13, 2009.

It was NASA's fourth launch challenge over the past month. Saturday's try was frustrated by lightning, and hydrogen gas leaks caused two postponements in June.

NASA has until July 14th Tuesday, possibly July 15th Wednesday, to launch Endeavour with the concluding piece of Japan's space station lab. Otherwise, it will have to wait until the end of July because of a Russian supply ship, which is awaiting liftoff.

Endeavour holds the third and final section of Japan's enormous $1 billion space station lab, named Kibo, or Hope. It's a porch for experiments that require to be exposed to the vacuum of space. The shuttle also is loaded with large additional parts and hundreds of pounds of food for the six station residents.

When the shuttle astronauts arrive at the space station, they will make up the major crowd ever in a single place in orbit: 13 people. All of the main space station partners will be represented: the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.

One American flying up on Endeavour will trade places with the lone Japanese astronaut on the space station.