Heat Wave Improves Shuttle Endeavour's Wednesday Launch Outlook

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Thanks to a heat wave, NASA shuttle officials improved tomorrow's launch weather forecast for the space shuttle Endeavour by 10 percent.

The heat wave, which forecasters are calling the "ring of fire," is pushing out typical thunderstorm conditions here at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), prompting NASA's shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters to raise Endeavour's chance of an on-time launch from 70 percent to 80 percent. Endeavour and its seven-astronaut crew are set to launch Wednesday at 6:36 p.m. (2236 GMT) on a construction flight to the International Space Station.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070807_sts118_update.html