NASA postponed the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this morning less than 10 minutes before liftoff because there was no emergency landing strip available for the orbiter if its flight was aborted after launch.
This is the second time this month that Endeavour has been left on the launch pad with 500,000 gallons of rocket fuel and nowhere to go.
The weather in Florida was fine - a crisp, cloudless night - but across the Atlantic, two emergency landing strips in Spain were closed by rain and high winds.
"We're going to declare a scrub at this time and come back tomorrow night and try again. We appreciate the effort tonight," launch director Mr Mike Leinbach told shuttle commander James Wetherbee shortly before the scheduled 1.15 a.m. (Irish time) launch.
"OK, thanks for trying, and we'll try again tomorrow night," commander Wetherbee called back from Endeavour's flight deck.
The forecast in Spain remained questionable for Saturday, but if NASA goes forward, the launch time would be 12.50 a.m. tomorrow.