Astronauts board Shuttle amid storm threats
Space shuttle Discovery’s seven astronauts arrived at the launch pad under a drizzle today and began boarding the spacecraft for the first such flight in two-and-a-half years, although thunderstorms threatened to force a postponement.
Discovery and its crew of seven were set to blast off at 3:51pm local time (7.51pm GMT) on a mission to take supplies to the international space station and test new techniques for inspecting and patching the shuttle in orbit.
The chances of acceptable weather at launch time fell to 40% from 60% a day earlier.
Nasa administrator Michael Griffin said that he trusted the safety of the shuttle so much that he would ride it if he could.
He said he met on Tuesday with members of the Columbia shuttle crew families and assured them that Nasa had learned lessons from that tragic flight.
“I think it is as safe as we know how to make it be, and there are a lot of unknowns remaining in spaceflight,” Mr Griffin said.
