Nasa will attempt another launch of US space shuttle Endeavour after a lightning storm forced it to postpone the mission by a day, officials say.
Experts said they found no damage to the shuttle or electrical systems after lightning struck 11 times near the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Friday.
Two previous launch attempts in June were scrapped because of a potentially hazardous leak in a hydrogen vent line.
The crew is set to install an external platform on Japan’s space station lab.
Lift-off has been scheduled for 1913 local time (2313 GMT) on Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, some 24 hours later than planned.
Forecasters said there was only a 30% chance of a weather-related delay.
Engineers spent Saturday checking over the shuttle’s critical systems to ensure that there was no damage, and managers cleared the spaceship for flight on Sunday morning.
Nasa technicians have filled the ship with 500,000 gallons (1.9 million litres) of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for the eight-and-a-half-minute ride into orbit.
New experiments
Endeavour is taking a seven-strong crew into space, made up of six Americans and one Canadian – Julie Payette – who will operate the shuttle’s robotic arm during the mission.
Their arrival will bring the total crew on the outpost to 13 – a record for the ISS.
During five spacewalks, a platform will be added to the Japanese lab complex, which can be used for experiments that require materials to be exposed to the harsh environment of space.
In addition, Endeavour will deliver a new long-stay US crew member, Tim Kopra, to the ISS and bring back Japan’s Koichi Wakata, who has lived aboard the platform for more than three months.
The space station, now about the size of a four-bedroom house, has been under construction for more than a decade.
When it launches, Endeavour will make the 127th space shuttle flight, and the 29th to the station.
Seven further flights to the station remain before the shuttles retire in 2010.</p
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