Saturday, July 11, 2009

STS-127 Launch Scrubbed for 7/11/09



The launch of space shuttle Endeavour has been postponed for 24 hours to allow the launch team sufficient time to perform evaluation and retesting of launch pad and launch vehicle sytems as the result of lightning strikes near the launch pad last night. The official tally on the lightning strikes from last night is 11 hits within 0.3 miles of the pad. The pad's water tank was hit and the lightning mast was struck a couple of times.

Endeavour's launch tomorrow will be at 7:13 p.m. EDT. Weather forecasters predict a 40 percent chance that weather will prevent a liftoff due to thunderstorms.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow. Thankyou for posting this picture. Amazing. I hope everything comes out ok.

Damaris Sarria Toepel said...

Oh I'm sure it will!! The 24-hour delay will just give engineers additional time to ensure the lightning did not harm ground equipment or systems aboard Endeavour. :)

vdiv said...

Zap!!! Here goes the avionics computer!

heroineworshipper said...

Why does anyone bother scheduling launches for Summer evenings in Fl*rida?