CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: NASA will try again to launch the shuttle Discovery to the international space station today after having to call it off because of thunderstorms.

The storms popped up unexpectedly late on Monday all around the launch site, and lightning lit up the sky. A strike was reported just 8 km from the pad, and then it started to pour. The storms finally eased, but not fast enough.

Launch director Pete Nickolenko waited as long as he could early yesterday before halting the countdown. The space shuttle had seven astronauts inside, as well as thousands of pounds of space station supplies, including a new treadmill named for TV comedian Stephen Colbert.