The weather is improving for Wednesday's planned launch of Endeavour on a space station delivery mission featuring NASA's first educator-astronaut, according to AP. Forecasters on Tuesday put the odds of acceptable conditions at 80 percent, slightly better odds than before. The countdown also continued to go well, NASA said. Endeavour is scheduled to blast off at 6:36 p.m. The flight is running a day late because of extra time needed last week to replace a leaky valve in the crew cabin. Seven astronauts are assigned to the mission, but the spotlight is on Barbara Morgan, who was Christa McAuliffe's backup for Challenger's doomed mission in 1986. First lady Laura Bush called Morgan on Tuesday morning and congratulated her from one schoolteacher to another. She also conveyed President George W. Bush's appreciation of Morgan's commitment to the space program. Bush told Morgan that many teachers and students will be watching her mission with pride. Morgan, a former Idaho schoolteacher who has spent nearly the past decade in formal astronaut training, will operate a robot arm and oversee the transfer of cargo from Endeavour into the space station. She also will speak with schoolchildren from orbit.
