Tanking test beginning.
The chill-down of liquid Hydrogen lines leading to the external tank has been completed and slow-fill is beginning, as NASA engineers begin to test low-fuel sensors that gave faulty readings and twice delayed launch attempts.
Chill-down of liquid oxygen lines continues.
Engineers believe that faulty wiring or connectors are to blame for the intermittent sensor readings. Diagnostic instruments have been attached to the sensor wiring.
Atlantis is scheduled to launch Jan. 10 on a construction mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle and seven-member crew will deliver the Columbus laboratory module, which was built by the European Space Agency.
Meanwhile at the space station, astronauts Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani are conducting a critical spacewalk to determine the extent of damage to the joints that turn a solar wing toward the sun to generate electricity
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