Commander Scott Altman and the crew of Shuttle mission STS-109 (NASA photo)

Thursday's launch of the space shuttle Columbia may be postponed due to a possibility of cold weather.

Weather experts say temperatures are expected to be around 4 degrees Celsius during the shuttle's scheduled liftoff Thursday, barely above a temperature safe for launch. The shuttle is scheduled to take off at 10:48 UTC from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Columbia and its seven astronauts will conduct an 11 day mission to make repairs and upgrades to the Hubble space telescope. The crew will replace solar panels and install a new camera expected to greatly improve the Hubble's range of vision.

The riskiest procedure involves shutting down the telescope's power to conduct repairs. If power to the telescope is not restored in time, it could be rendered useless.

The Hubble was launched in 1990 and orbits 600 kilometers above Earth. It works around the clock to provide views of the universe that cannot be made using ground-based telescopes or satellites.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

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