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The 14-day flight will feature four ambitious spacewalks outside the orbiting laboratory. The space shuttle Endeavour is slated to carry six astronauts, a $2 billion astrophysics experiment, and a load of spare parts to the International Space Station. Florida's Space Coast was expecting an influx of tourist revenue from the roughly three-quarters of a million visitors. Many thousands of others will also have to postpone their shuttle-viewing plans. There's no word yet on whether Obama will still attend the next launch attempt. "Safety always comes first."Īmong the disappointed hopeful viewers of the launch are President Barack Obama and his family, who were planning to watch Friday's shuttle liftoff. "Obviously we would have very much loved to have seen Endeavour lifting off this afternoon, but that wasn’t to be the case," Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy Space Center, said in a press conference Friday afternoon.
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The space agency expected up to 750,000 spectators for Endeavour's launch. The launch delay likely disappointed the throngs of spectators that flooded the launch viewing sites around the Kennedy Space Center with hopes of seeing one of NASA's final space shuttle launches before the 30-year-old shuttle fleet is retired for good later this year. EDT, after Endeavour was fully fueled and the astronauts were suited up in their bright orange launch and entry suits. NASA called off today's launch at 12:19 p.m. "We look like we've got a good shot to keep trying here," said Mike Moses, chair of the shuttle's mission management team. NASA can pick back up again trying to launch Endeavour May 9 or May 10. After that, the shuttle must stand down to allow an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket to launch from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 6. NASA has through May 4 to continue trying to fly Endeavour. EDT (1733 GMT) from Launch Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center. The next chance to launch Endeavour comes Monday (May 2) at 2:33 p.m. Mission managers decided to delay at least 72 hours to look into the source of the problem.