NASA fuels shuttle for launch early today

? Despite more clouds on the horizon, NASA fueled Endeavour for the second straight night Sunday in hopes of sending the shuttle on the last big space station construction mission.

The launch team began pumping millions of gallons of fuel into Endeavour just as the Super Bowl was kicking off to the south in Miami. NASA’s launch director, Mike Leinbach, told his controllers to be at their computers, ready to support the launch, football or not.

Endeavour and its crew of six were scheduled to blast off at 3:14 a.m. CST today with a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station.

Sunday morning’s try was spoiled by thick, low clouds. The clouds were back Sunday night, but forecasters said it looked more favorable than the previous night and they put the odds of acceptable conditions at 60 percent.