LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The view at left shows the area where a gaseous hydrogen line leaked during shuttle Endeavour's fuel-loading operations Saturday. At right, the Vertical Integration Facility holds an Atlas V and two NASA satellites waiting to roll to their launch pad. The images will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds.
Managers of two unmanned NASA satellites bound for the moon are holding a review this morning at Kennedy Space Center to determine their readiness to launch Wednesday.
But even if they're ready, space shuttle Endeavour will determine their launch date, and a decision is expected this afternoon at KSC.
Shuttle managers want to launch Endeavour at 5:40 a.m. Wednesday, four days after a first attempt was scrubbed because a vent line leaked hydrogen gas during fueling operations.
They expect replacement of a quick-disconnect valve and seals in the vent line to be ready in time the Endeavour's countdown to resume at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday at T minus 11 hours, including built-in hold times.
Technicians overnight completed changing out of seals in a plate that attaches to the external tank, according to NASA's Web site.
The plate and vent line must now be reattached to the tank, and tests, leak checks and closeouts will proceed into Tuesday morning, mission Launch Director Pete Nickolenko said Sunday.
If the schedule holds, the rotating service tower at launch pad 39A would be swung open again at 10:30 a.m. The loading of a half-million gallons of super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the external tank would begin at 8:15 p.m.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite are still officially scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 3:51 p.m. Wednesday atop an Atlas V rocket.
But if Endeavour is ready, it will be given priority Wednesday.
That would give the moon mission chances to launch Friday and Saturday, before waiting for a new four-day window to open June 30.
The Air Force's Eastern Range, which manages tracking and range safety for vehicles launching from Florida, needs time to reconfigure its systems between the two launches.
If the Atlas V goes first on Wednesday, they would be given only one attempt, so the range could be turned around for a Saturday shuttle launch.
Despite the uncertainty about the launch date, LRO and LCROSS managers will hold a pre-launch news briefing at 1 p.m. today.
That will be followed by an Endeavour countdown status briefing scheduled at 3 p.m., which should confirm whether or not Endeavour will take the Wednesday launch slot.
You can watch both briefings live here on The Flame Trench. Just click the NASA TV still image on the right side of the page to launch a viewer.
If Endeavour doesn't launch by Saturday, its 16-day International Space Station assembly mission could be delayed until at least July 11.
During that time, the sun's angle to the station would make it impossible to complete the full mission.
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