NASA

Launch of 4 astronauts to space station bumped to Saturday

They are expected to spend six months at the space station, replacing four astronauts who have been there for half a year.

Getty Images CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – MARCH 10: Space shuttle Endeavour is rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A on March 10, 2010 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle is scheduled to launch on April 19th, and will be its final 134th mission. Among the crew will be Commander Mark Kelly, pilot Gregory H. Johnson and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. (Photo by Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images)

NASA and SpaceX halted the countdown late Thursday for the launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station.

Mission managers rescheduled the liftoff for early Saturday morning, giving them an extra 24 hours to close out lingering issues, officials said. Nearly ideal weather was expected.

The four astronauts, representing four countries, had not yet headed to the SpaceX Falcon rocket awaiting them on the pad.

They are expected to spend six months at the space station, replacing four astronauts who have been there for half a year. A NASA astronaut is leading the new crew, which includes a Japanese surgeon and Danish and Russian engineers.

Earlier Thursday, the station had to dodge a piece of space junk, just hours before a Russian supply ship showed up with a fresh delivery. The debris, a fragment from China's 2007 anti-satellite missile test, would have passed dangerously close if the station's orbit not been lowered.

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Copyright AP - Associated Press
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