Shuttle swamped for second day

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Stormy weather prevented NASA from launching Discovery for the second day in a row Sunday, extending a yearlong grounding of the space shuttle prompted by persistent trouble with fuel-tank foam.
Launch officials said they would try again Tuesday, on the Fourth of July, after giving the work force some rest and a chance to replenish the shuttle's on-board fuel. The weather was expected to improve by Tuesday, although rain was still in the forecast.
Launch director Mike Leinbach said it will be tight getting Discovery ready for a Tuesday afternoon launch -- only the second liftoff of a shuttle since the 2003 Columbia disaster -- and that any thunderstorms today could put his team behind.
He halted the countdown just an hour after the seven astronauts boarded the fueled spaceship.
"Looking out the window, it doesn't look good today," shuttle commander Steven Lindsey radioed from the cockpit. He noted that July Fourth would be "a good day to launch."
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