State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood says U.S.officials are in contact with regional allies and other concerned governments to try to "head off" the launch.

VOA: standard.2009.03.12

The new schedule calls for Endeavour to lift off before dawn on Wednesday, the same day that NASA had hoped to launch a separate mission to survey the moon.

VOA: standard.2009.06.16

Already the launch is off to a bit of a rocky start.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

But the launch got off to a rocky start.

FORBES: The Second Coming

Plenty of space for the people smugglers to bring the migrants down here by cover of night, launch them off in those small wooden boats and head them towards the Italian island of Lampedusa, or sometimes to Malta.

BBC: Last Updated: Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:19 GMT