11.   Robot-arm problems at the space station and then shuttle launch delays added more than a month to their stint in orbit.

12.   Storms which have hovered over the takeoff zone in the central Australian town of Alice Springs for the past three days have been blamed for the latest launch delays.

13.   Two spacewalking cosmonauts successfully removed a rubber seal Monday that had jammed a docking mechanism at the international space station and forced a shuttle launch delay.

14.   He lamented the background reasons for the launch delay.

15.   The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had better luck in launching the Atlantis than it did with the shuttle Columbia, which had a record six launch delays.