Maine News Updates

The countdown for York High School graduate Chris Cassidy’s flight aboard the space shuttle Endeavor is due to start at 10 p.m. tonight, according to NASA.

Liftoff is now scheduled for 7:39 a.m. Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two earlier liftoffs last month were postponed after leaks were detected in the shuttle’s tanks.

Cassidy, a 1988 graduate of York High School, is one of seven crew members scheduled to spend 16 days in space. He will make three of the five scheduled space walks to help attach a Japanese experimental module to the International Space Station.

A number of York residents, including his mother, Janice Cassidy, York High School Principal Bob Stevens and his high school football coach, Ted Welch, plan to travel back to Florida for Saturday’s liftoff.

Today, NASA officials said weather was a concern and there was a 40 percent chance the liftoff would take place as scheduled.

“It has been a real roller coaster. We are crossing our fingers it goes off as scheduled,” said Janice Cassidy.

Cassidy, 39, is one of only three astronauts who have had Maine ties.

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