Endeavour launch has been postponed

Image: NASA

Officials at NASA`s Kennedy Space Center in Florida called off Sunday`s planned liftoff due to inclement weather. Cumulus clouds and lightning violated rules for launching Endeavour because of weather near the Shuttle Landing Facility. The runway would be needed in the unlikely event that Endeavour would have to make an emergency landing back at Kennedy.

The STS-127 astronauts left Launch Pad 39A at about 8:35 p.m. EDT to return to crew quarters at Kennedy`s Operations & Checkout Building for the night.

The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency`s Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.

The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.