Shuttle set for Friday launch as weather, wire worries dissipate

Endeavour at Cape Canaveral

February 9, 2000
Web posted at: 1:30 PM EST (1830 GMT)

By CNN Space Correspondent
Miles O'Brien

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- The clock is ticking down and the weather forecast looking up as NASA prepares to launch the first manned space flight of the new century.

The space shuttle Endeavour is cleared for a Friday liftoff after engineers determined damage to a wiring harness near the top of the left solid rocket booster was "superficial."

The wiring harness is attached to a sensor that tells launch controllers if the device that ignites the booster is "armed" or in "safe" mode. The shuttle cannot launch if the sensors -- or their wiring -- fail to operate during the countdown.

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As part of the standard routine, the wiring and the sensors will be tested during the countdown, which began at 5:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

The weather outlook is favorable for the first launch attempt -- a two-hour, 10-minute window that begins 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday. Meteorologists predict only a one in five chance that weather will ground the Endeavour.

Should the shuttle not launch as scheduled, NASA will try again about 24 hours later. Meteorologist Ed Prisilec said there was a 40 per cent chance that weather would keep Endeavour from flying on Saturday, a more favorable outlook than an earlier projection.

The six-person multinational crew of Endeavour is slated to fly an 11-day radar-mapping mission that will create an unprecedented 3-D map of more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. The $600 million mission is spearheaded by the Pentagon.

Originally scheduled to fly in September, the mission was delayed after NASA ordered a comprehensive wiring inspection and repair campaign for the entire shuttle fleet. Weather and another technical problem scuttled the rescheduled January 31 liftoff.

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