NASA fueling space shuttle for second launch attempt

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- NASA is fueling space shuttle Discovery again for an early morning launch.

Thunderstorms prevented Discovery from blasting off early Tuesday. Better weather is expected for Wednesday's 1:10 a.m. Eastern try.

Forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at 70%. The sky was fairly clear as the launch team began pumping fuel Tuesday afternoon.

The shuttle is loaded with supplies, including a new treadmill named for TV comedian Stephen Colbert.

Discovery and its seven astronauts had been set to blast off at 1:36 a.m. Eastern Tuesday morning. They headed out to the launch pad Monday night, waving and smiling, and climbed into the shuttle one by one. The weather worsened as the night wore on.

Discovery's most prominent payload is NASA's new $5 million treadmill, which is named after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. He could not attend the launch, but said in a recorded message that he couldn't be prouder that his treadmill soon will be installed at the space station "to help finally slim down all those chubby astronauts."

"Let's face it, being weightless is mostly just a desperate bid to get away from that bathroom scale every morning," Colbert said. "But you guys and gals are ambassadors to the universe. Don't make us look bad. Put down the astronaut ice cream, tubby. Tubby, tubby, two-by-four, couldn't fit through the air lock door."

Colbert campaigned earlier this year to have a space station room named after him. He won the online vote, but NASA went with Tranquility, the name of the dry lunar sea in which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 40 years ago this summer. As a consolation prize, Colbert got the treadmill. It's full name is Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill; it will fly up in more than 100 pieces and won't be put together until sometime next month.

Colbert poked fun at NASA's choice of Tranquility for the chamber, which will be launched early next year. "Yeah, that will scare the aliens," he said. He ended his televised message by shouting, "I am 'go' to launch me. Let's light this candle!"