P3D Here's some far out 3D...

[Ronald Beck <ronald-beck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Monday January 31 11:17 AM ET 

Florida Rain And Fog Threaten Shuttle Liftoff

By Brad Liston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The six astronauts hoping to fly on the
space shuttle Endeavour for an Earth-mapping mission donned spacesuits
for launch on Monday, but a cold, teady rain and thick fog threatened
prospects for an on-time liftoff.

The 11-day mission was scheduled to begin with a launch from the Kennedy
Space Center in lorida at 12:47 p.m. If the rain and fog persist, NASA
could stretch the window of opportunity to 2:49 p.m.

If the shuttle cannot launch on Monday, another attempt can be made at
12:44 p.m. Tuesday, when the weather is expected to improve.

The astronauts, once in orbit, are scheduled to use sophisticated radar
equipment to make a classified, high-resolution topographical map of the
Earth's surface. A less detailed version will be generated for the world
scientific community.

About six hours after launch, the crew will deploy a retractable
20-story mast, the longest fixed structure ever to fly in space. The
mast allows the crew to take slightly offset readings so the maps will
have a three-dimensional quality.

``One thing I was surprised to learn was that we've got better 3D maps
of Venus and Mars than we do of Earth,'' mission commander Kevin Kregel
said in a preflight interview.

Only about 3 percent of the Earth is currently mapped in the detail
Endeavour will attempt, with readings taken every 98 feet as the shuttle
passes in 147-mile swaths over the planet.

NASA hopes to map between 72 and 80 percent of the planet's land
formations.

Aboard the shuttle are 270 digital cassettes for collecting the data.
The crew will split into two shifts working 12 hours each to be sure the
operation is monitored 24 hours a day.

Other than changing the cassettes, the crew will have little to do
unless something goes wrong. Although no spacewalks are planned, two
astronauts are prepared to step out of the orbiter should there be a
problem deploying or retracting the 197-foot mast.