Comedian Colbert gives go-ahead to shuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA fueled space shuttle Discovery for an early-morning flight to the international space station today as a TV comedian whose treadmill is on board gave a “go” for launch and urged, “Let’s light this candle!”

Discovery and seven astronauts were set to blast off at 1:36 a.m. with a full load of supplies, experiments and equipment.

Thunderstorms raked across the launch site Monday evening as the crew prepared to suit up. But the weather was expected to improve by liftoff; forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at 80 percent.

Discovery’s most prominent payload is NASA’s new $5 million treadmill, which is named after Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. He could not attend the launch but said in a recorded message Monday evening that he couldn’t be prouder that his treadmill soon will be installed at the space station “to help finally slim down all those chubby astronauts.”

“Let’s face it, being weightless is mostly just a desperate bid to get away from that bathroom scale every morning,” Colbert said.