Bent hose decision on busy NASA-TV schedule

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Following the morning's spacewalk, NASA-TV has a great line-up of events this afternoon. Follow it all here in The Flame Trench:

1 p.m. - NASA will release results and new images from the Mercury flyby on Jan. 14.

2 p.m. - A post-spacewalk briefing following the successful replacement of a crucial piece of hardware that moves the starboard solar array.

3 p.m. (no earlier than) - At a briefing following the shuttle Executive Flight Readiness Review NASA officials will reveal how they plan to deal with a kinked radiator hose on a payload bay door.

FRR to discuss bent hose this afternoon.

At today's Executive Flight Readiness Review, NASA officials are expected to discuss how to fix a kinked radiator hose on Atlantis, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.

After a similar problem was found on Discovery, NASA engineers opened Atlantis' payload bay doors and found the same kinked flexible hose on the shuttle, which is at the launch pad nearly ready for a Feb. 7 launch to the International Space Station.

The hose apparently has flown several times before being discovered, said Beutel. An engineering team is working to determine whether the bent hose poses a danger of leaking.

The system containing the hose, 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, could be isolated if it leaked during a mission, said Beutel.

Other issues at the FRR include confirming the Feb. 7 launch date, and confirming a three of four working launch criteria for low-fuel sensors, which have been plagued by intermittent signals.