Lightning Delays Launch

Nine lightning strikes in the area of the launch pad delayed the liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour yet again last evening. Out of an abundance of caution, NASA put off the launch in order to make sure the shuttle was sound. Another attempt at launch is scheduled for this evening.

Lightning has interacted with space launches before, of course-- perhaps most famously with the launch of Apollo 12. That mission was launched into a deck of low clouds, and lightning struck the vehicle seconds after liftoff. The cautious decision then may well have been to abort the mission. Had that happened after the near disaster of Apollo 13, the decision may well have been different. But, as it was, NASA not only didn't abort Apollo 12, the mission continued to the Moon, where Pete Conrad and Alan Bean pulled off only the second manned lunar landing before returning safely home.

In a way, Apollo 12 may have been the high point of the Apollo program.