Shuttle’s Launch Delayed Sixth Time
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Drenching rains washed out the launch of the space shuttle Columbia on Friday, marking the sixth time the start of the mission has been delayed by either mechanical or weather problems since its original Dec. 18 blastoff date.
NASA officials reset the launch for Sunday morning, and Air Force weathermen predicted the skies would clear by then.
The latest postponement also will force a delay of at least a day in the scheduled Jan. 23 liftoff for Columbia’s sister ship Challenger, which is being readied on a launch pad one mile from Columbia at Kennedy Space Center.
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