By MARCIA DUNN,AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Despite more clouds on the horizon, NASA fueled Endeavour for the second straight night Sunday in hopes of sending the shuttle on the last big space station construction mission.
The launch team began pumping millions of gallons of fuel into Endeavour just as the Super Bowl was kicking off to the south in Miami. NASA's launch director, Mike Leinbach, told his controllers to be at their computers, ready to support the launch, football or not. He said there would be no distractions in the firing room, scene of all the shuttle monitoring.
Endeavour and its crew of six were scheduled to blast off at 4:14 a.m. Monday with a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station.
Sunday morning's try was spoiled by thick, low clouds. The clouds were back Sunday night, but forecasters said it looked more favorable than the previous night and they put the odds of acceptable conditions at 60 percent.
It was the last scheduled night launch for the space shuttle program, winding down after nearly 30 years. After this one, just four flights remain.
Commander George Zamka and his crew awoke after sleeping through the afternoon. They will work the overnight shift in orbit during their two-week mission.
If Endeavour does not make it off the ground Monday, NASA officials said they would probably not try again Tuesday, given the exhausting middle-of-the-night schedule. An unmanned rocket with a solar observatory would have a chance to fly next, on Wednesday, and the shuttle would get in line behind that, later in the week.
"That's space 'biz!" space station commander Jeffrey Williams said in a Twitter update live from orbit. "We on ISS now have some extra prep time."
Endeavour is loaded with two major payloads: the Tranquility living quarters and a seven-windowed dome that will give space station residents sweeping 360-degree views of their orbital home, as well as Earth and outer space.
Both compartments are courtesy of the European Space Agency. They're worth more than $400 million.
The space station will be 98 percent complete once Tranquility and the dome are installed. The Endeavour crew will conduct three spacewalks to hook up everything.
As for the Super Bowl unfolding 200 miles south of Kennedy Space Center, the coin used in the opening toss flew on the last shuttle mission, in November. A former wide receiver, Leland Melvin, was on that flight. He was picked by the Detroit Lions in the NFL draft in 1986, but injured his hamstring and went on — famously — to science and space-flying careers.
No, the shuttle crew did not watch the Super Bowl, NASA's launch commentator said. But the game was beamed up to the space station in case the five men there wanted to see it.
Breaking News
NASA fuels space shuttle 2nd time, weather iffy
- Breaking News
-
-
Gov't to carmakers: Harness dashboard technology
Carmakers should design potentially distracting dashboard technology so it's automatically disabled while the vehicle is in motion, federal safety officials said Thursday.
-
Honduras fire inmates not convicted
The prisoners whose scorched bodies were carried out piece by piece Thursday morning from a charred Honduran prison had been locked inside an overcrowded penitentiary where most inmates had never been charged, let alone convicted, according to an internal Honduran government report obtained by The Associated Press.
-
Police discover drugs, paraphernalia in home
Police have arrested two men they say were involved in the manufacturing and selling of methamphetamine.
-
GM records its highest profit ever: $7.6 billion
General Motors earned its highest profit ever last year.
-
Foes allege Sen. Lugar doesn't really live in Indiana
The charge by GOP challenger Richard Mourdock is just the latest in a series of them levied against the Republican senator by an unlikely alliance of Democrats and conservatives who have joined forces to argue Lugar no longer has much to do with Indiana.
-
State police arrest man for trafficking with Pendleton inmate
State police made an arrest Wednesday morning, after prison staff at the Correctional Industrial Facility noticed a man throw a package over the fence.
-
Boy testifies at grandfather's child abuse trial
A 9-year-old boy testified Wednesday that his grandfather hit him in the face, causing his nose to bleed, and kicked him and his two brothers during a pair of miles-long hikes at the Grand Canyon last summer.
-
Adult education GED classes offered
Anderson Community Schools is offering classes in GED preparation, English Language classes and Basic Education Refresher classes for the 2011-12 school year.
-
18 indicted in western Indiana meth investigation
A federal prosecutor says 18 people have been indicted on federal drug charges as the result of a multi-agency investigation of a methamphetamine distribution network in western Indiana.
-
Whitney Houston's death spurs look at her doctors, meds
It's become standard-operating procedure when a celebrity dies too young — investigators immediately go looking through their nightstand and medicine cabinet. That effort is well under way in the death of Whitney Houston.
- More Breaking News Headlines
-
Gov't to carmakers: Harness dashboard technology
Top Bargainers Announce Payroll Tax Cut Deal
Student Photos 'hijacked', Used on Porn Site
Should U.S. Arm Medevacs in Afghanistan?
Foreclosures Rise Only Slightly, More Expected
Old Friends, New Mission: China VP Visits Iowa
Jeremy Lin a Slam-dunk for Knicks and Fans
Defense Begins in UVA Player Murder Trial
More Than 350 Die in Honduran Prison Fire
Defiant Iran Loads Own Fuel Rods Into Reactor
Raw Video: Syrian Army, Rebels Battle in Homs
Video Essay: Saving the Miami Blue Butterfly
NYPD Officer Shot During Subway Confrontation
Iranian Boats Shadow US Aircraft Carrier in Gulf
Hundreds Rally Against Alabama Immigration Law
Whitney Houston Funeral to Be Invitation Only
New Details in Search for Missing Utah Mom
Raw Video: Protesters, Security Clash in Bahrain
School Pays Students to Attend Class
Trial Opens for Ala. Man in Bride's Diving Death
Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star
