NASA Fuels Space Shuttle for Launch from Florida

Technical problems that delayed the flight from December have been resolved, leaving only the weather as a possible show-stopper.

NASA fueled the space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff on Thursday on a mission to deliver Europe's first full-time orbital research complex to the International Space Station.

Technical problems that delayed the flight from December have been resolved, leaving only the weather as a possible show-stopper, NASA officials said.

Liftoff was targeted for 2:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, positioning the shuttle for arrival at the station on Saturday.

But the U.S. space agency's weather experts offered only a 30 percent chance of a launch as a cold front that spawned killer tornadoes in the southeastern United States headed toward central Florida.

The front was expected to have lost much of its strength by the time it reaches the Cape Canaveral area, but meteorologists said it could bring rain, clouds and perhaps thunderstorms.

"We are hopeful that the front will time its approach just to the north and give us a slight break in the clouds prior to our 2:45 launch time," launch commentator George Diller said.

To be ready if the weather cooperates, NASA managers told technicians to begin filling the shuttle with 500,000 gallons (2.27 million litres) of supercold liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which feed the ship's three main engines during the 8 1/2-minute climb to orbit.

EUROPE'S COLUMBUS

Atlantis' mission was twice delayed in December by technical problems with an emergency engine cutoff system.

The shuttle will carry Columbus, Europe's first permanent space lab, into orbit, where astronauts will attach it to the space station during Atlantis' weeklong visit.

The European Space Agency has been waiting for the delivery of Columbus since 2002. It was first postponed by Russian delays launching the space station's service module, then by the 2003 destruction of space shuttle Columbia, which grounded the shuttle fleet for 2 1/2 years.

Twenty-three feet (7 metres) long and nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter, Columbus has room enough for three crew members to work on experiments. It will be launched with a biolab for cell and tissue studies and an experiment to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body.

ESA is counting on Columbus' successful deployment and the March 8 launch of a cargo ship to proceed with future space programs, including participation in NASA's plan to return humans to the surface of the moon.

Atlantis will also carry French astronaut Leopold Eyharts to the space station, where he will oversee the setup and activation of Columbus.

Eyharts, 50, spent three weeks aboard Russia's now-defunct Mir space station nearly a decade ago. He will replace NASA astronaut Dan Tani as a member of the space station's three-person resident crew.

NASA plans to quickly follow Columbus' launch with the first flight for Japan's Kibo complex.

The agency has 13 remaining missions on the shuttle's roster before the fleet is retired in 2010.

In addition to 12 space station construction and resupply flights, NASA plans a mission in August or September to service the Hubble Space Telescope.