Space shuttle Atlantis was set to rocket off its seaside launch pad in Florida Friday on the final flight in the 30-year US shuttle program. Liftoff was set for 11:26 A.M. EDT (1526 GMT), but as many as 750,000 tourists who have flooded into the Cape Canaveral area may have to stay for the weekend to catch a final glimpse of a shuttle vaulting into orbit. Meteorologists on Thursday said there was a 70 percent chance the launch would be delayed by rain, clouds and thunderstorms. “It's just our typical tropical stuff,” NASA's Shuttle Launch Weather Officer told reporters on Thursday morning. Conditions were expected to improve Saturday, but even then forecasters saw only a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather. Atlantis and its four-person crew will be carrying food and other supplies critical to the International Space Station. The 12-day mission to the orbital research outpost 220 miles (354 km) above Earth is among the most routine of any of the 134 that preceded it. It is seen as a key insurance policy, however, in case commercial delivery firms hired to resupply the station starting next year run into problems with their new rockets.
