NASA now hopes to launch Endeavour July 11, after a hydrogen gas leak during fueling operations scrubbed attempts Saturday and this morning. Managers will hold a news conference to discuss the problem and next steps no earlier than 3:30 a.m. at Kennedy Space Center.
You can watch it live here. Just click on the NASA TV still image on the right side of this page to launch a NASA TV viewer. In a brief interview on NASA TV, Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach said fueling of shuttle Endeavour's external tank appeared to be going smoothly until about an hour was left in the procedure.
Then the leak was detected at a vent line that routes excess gas from the tank to a flare stack - same issue that stopped Saturday's launch, but with different leakage levels.
Standard troubleshooting efforts began, including cycling of a quick disconnect valve.
"It never cleaned up," Leinbach said. "The leak was way out of spec again, so we were just not comfortable pressing on."
KSC workers are in the process of draining the external tank again, and should gain access to the problem area by Thursday evening.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the view of Endeavour on launch pad 39A. Credit: Craig Bailey, Florida Today.
2 comments:
Good for NASA to not allow the ridiculous September 30, 2010 deadline to stand in the way of safety. This is another example why that deadline needs to be scrapped.
Will names of those fired over this be made known? I know this is rocket science, but wasn't the science part done many years ago. How will most Americans lives be changed if the shuttle stopped now? We are part owner of GM. We are FULL owner of NASA.
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