CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Dark clouds fill the sky behind the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA managers postponed today’s space shuttle launch because of lightning and thunderstorms within the 20-nautical-mile circle around the launch pad. The fifth launch attempt for the STS-127 mission was scrubbed at 6:39 p.m. EDT. The first two launch attempts on June 13 and June 17 were scrubbed when a hydrogen gas leak occurred during tanking due to a misaligned Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Mission managers also decided to delay tanking on July 11 for a launch attempt later in the day to allow engineers and safety personnel time to analyze data captured during lightning strikes near the pad on July 10. Weather concerns caused a scrub July 12 as well. Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, in the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the International Space Station. STS-127 is the 29th flight for the assembly of the space. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs KSC-2009-4011

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KSC WEATHER - CLOUDS & FOG WAVEOFF FOR STS-131 LANDING OPPORTUNITY 2 2010-2777

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On its transporter, external tank No. 125 moves through the entrance in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tank arrived at the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin on the Pegasus barge from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. The external tank will be used on space shuttle Atlantis for mission STS-122 targeted for launch on Dec. 6. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder KSC-07pd2470

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The payload canister moves past NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to Launch Pad 39B. Inside are the payloads for mission STS-121: the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, with supplies and equipment for the International Space Station; the lightweight multi-purpose experiment support structure carrier; and the integrated cargo carrier, with the mobile transporter reel assembly and a spare pump module. The payload will be transferred from the canister to Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay at the pad. Discovery is scheduled to launch on mission STS-121 from Launch Pad 39B in a window that opens July 1 and extends to July 19. Photo credit: NASA/Debbie Kiger KSC-06pd0843

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, external fuel tank ET-131 moves toward the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tank, which will be used on the STS-127 mission, will be moved to a high bay for checkout. The Japanese Experiment Module's Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, is part of the payload on the STS-127 mission, targeted for launch in June. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs KSC-2009-1815

Workers painting the Flag and Meatball on the VAB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center and Mobile Launcher are in this view of the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the Launch Control Center, the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing efforts to create a new firing room based on a multi-user concept in Firing Room 4. The design of Firing Room 4 will incorporate five control room areas that are flexible to meet current and future NASA and commercial user requirements. The equipment and most of the consoles from Firing Room 4 were moved to Firing Room 2 for possible future reuse. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky KSC-2014-1968

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Dark clouds fill the sky behind the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA managers postponed today’s space shuttle launch because of lightning and thunderstorms within the 20-nautical-mile circle around the launch pad. The fifth launch attempt for the STS-127 mission was scrubbed at 6:39 p.m. EDT. The first two launch attempts on June 13 and June 17 were scrubbed when a hydrogen gas leak occurred during tanking due to a misaligned Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Mission managers also decided to delay tanking on July 11 for a launch attempt later in the day to allow engineers and safety personnel time to analyze data captured during lightning strikes near the pad on July 10. Weather concerns caused a scrub July 12 as well. Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, in the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the International Space Station. STS-127 is the 29th flight for the assembly of the space. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs KSC-2009-4011

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Dark clouds fill the sky behind the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA managers postponed today’s space shuttle launch because of lightning and thunderstorms within the 20-nautical-mile circle around the launch pad. The fifth launch attempt for the STS-127 mission was scrubbed at 6:39 p.m. EDT. The first two launch attempts on June 13 and June 17 were scrubbed when a hydrogen gas leak occurred during tanking due to a misaligned Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Mission managers also decided to delay tanking on July 11 for a launch attempt later in the day to allow engineers and safety personnel time to analyze data captured during lightning strikes near the pad on July 10. Weather concerns caused a scrub July 12 as well. Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, in the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the International Space Station. STS-127 is the 29th flight for the assembly of the space. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.