Space Shuttle mission managers scrubbed the launch of Discovery on mission STS-103 tonight at about 8:52 p.m. due to numerous violations of weather launch commit criteria at KSC. A 24-hour scrub turnaround sequence is currently in work at the pad. Managers will attempt to launch Discovery tomorrow, Dec. 18, at 8:21 p.m. Eastern Time. The 42-minute window extends to 9:03 p.m.

Currently at the pad, operations to detank the external tank of its unused liquid propellants will continue into the early morning. Following this operation, Discovery will then be placed in a posture to be refilled with the cryogenics beginning around 11:30 a.m.

The seven-member crew of Discovery have returned to their crew quarters for the night and will begin their sleep period about 2:30 a.m. They will awake tomorrow at about 10:30 a.m. and once again go through their launch day routine. Walkout of the Operations and Checkout Building is scheduled for 4:47 p.m.

Tomorrow's weather outlook is somewhat similar to tonight's. Forecasters are predicting a 70 percent chance of weather criteria violation with the primary concerns being for low clouds and possible rain showers in the vicinity of the pad and the Shuttle Landing Facility.

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