Seven astronauts returned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Cape Canaveral, Florida launch site Monday to make another attempt at flying space shuttle Atlantis to the international space station. Liftoff is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, with NASA finishing a last repair Sunday night involving a radiator hose. The mission was delayed in December by a different problem. Atlantis will carry the European Space Agency's science laboratory, Columbus, to the orbiting station. It would be the second science laboratory—the United States already operates one there. The largest scheduled laboratory, Japan's Kibo, will be carried up in sections beginning next month. The Atlantis mission, troubled for weeks by mechanical problems, now faces only weather concerns, NASA officials said. Forecasters said the chance of acceptable conditions on Thursday was only 40 percent because of expected rain. Friday's outlook is much better at 80 percent.
