Shuttle launch delayed again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Poor weather prevented NASA from launching Discovery for the second day in a row Sunday, extending a yearlong grounding of the space shuttle prompted by persistent trouble with fuel-tank foam.

Launch officials said they would try again Tuesday, on the Fourth of July, after giving the work force some rest and a chance to replenish the shuttle’s on-board fuel. The weather was expected to improve by Tuesday, although rain was still in the forecast.

Launch director Mike Leinbach said it will be tight getting Discovery ready for a Tuesday afternoon launch – only the second liftoff of a shuttle since the 2003 Columbia disaster – and that any thunderstorms on Monday could put his team behind.

He halted Sunday’s countdown just an hour after the seven astronauts boarded the fueled spaceship.

The back-to-back delays cost NASA an estimated $2 million in overtime pay and fuel costs.

Last month, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin approved launching the shuttle despite the concerns of two top agency managers who wanted additional repairs to the foam insulation on the external fuel tank.

Columbia was brought down by a chunk of flyaway foam, and a piece broke off Discovery’s redesigned tank last July, barely missing the shuttle.