LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center, where shuttle Endeavour is being readied for a critical fuel-loading test. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds.
NASA has begun a key test of its ability to safely fuel a space shuttle for launch, a test that will likely determine whether Endeavour can lift off next week or if its mission will be delayed further.
Liquid hydrogen began flowing into shuttle Endeavour's 15-story external tank at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A a few minutes after 7 a.m. Liquid oxygen begins loading soon after.
You can watch live coverage of the tanking test here by clicking on the NASA TV still images on this page to launch a viewer.
After the test, Mike Moses, chairman of the Mission Management Team, and Pete Nickolenko, the mission's launch director, will host a news conference to discuss the results around 1 p.m.
The fueling process began with chilldown of the lines that the supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen - minus 423 degrees and minus 297 degrees, respectively - will flow through.
It should be about two hours, a little after 9 a.m., before the conditions that created hydrogen gas leaks during two countdowns last month are recreated.
Gaseous hydrogen leaked at unacceptable levels from a vent line that runs between the external tank and a flare stack.
NASA replaced a Teflon seal where the vent line connects to the tank and took other steps to correct a slight misalignment in the plate where the vent line is connected.
The countdown clock at KSC is ticking down from T minus six hours, just as it would be during a real countdown to launch.
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