Posted 12/07/2006 08:54:00 PM by Douglas

Damn! Here we go again with March of the Penguins II. What's black and white and is never gonna fly?

Low clouds forced NASA to delay the launch of space shuttle Discovery Thursday night, and strong winds could delay another attempt for a day or two.

NASA managers waited until the end of the countdown before deciding to call off the launch scheduled for 9:35 p.m. EST. It would have been the first launch at night in four years.

"We gave it the best shot and didn't get clear and convincing evidence that the cloud ceiling had cleared for us," launch director Mike Leinbach told Discovery's seven astronauts.

Commander Mark Polansky responded, "Try not to be too disappointed."

Earlier in the day, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said if the space shuttle did not get off the ground Thursday night, NASA likely would wait until Saturday before trying again. The Friday forecast was even worse than Thursday's, with only a 10 percent chance for launching.

Too many clouds prevent the necessary observation of the shuttle during its ascent, and the shuttle commander needs visibility if an emergency landing is required.

The best opportunity for launching over the next several days was Tuesday, shuttle weather forecaster Matt Timmermann said.

Looks like Tuesday, then.