Florida ? Thunderstorms have forced NASA to call off space shuttle Discovery’s launch early today.

The storms popped up late Monday all around the launch site, and lightning lit up the sky. A lightning strike was reported just five miles from the pad, in fact, and then it started to pour. The storms finally eased, but not fast enough. Launch director Pete Nickolenko waited as long as he could before halting the countdown to the liftoff early today.

NASA will try again early Wednesday to send Discovery and seven astronauts to the international space station.