At 00:36 GMT, Monday night, (8:00 p.m. EDT Sunday night), the countdown clock for U.S. shuttle Endeavour began ticking backward for a launch at 22:36 GMT (6:36 p.m. EDT) Wednesday. All countdown preparations are proceeding on schedule.
The space shuttle crew is now at Kennedy Space Centre to prepare for next week's launch of space shuttle Endeavour, but they have to wait an extra day to blast off. Crew members arrived on the Space Coast late Friday afternoon. Shortly before they got there they learned NASA had rescheduled the launch from Tuesday to Wednesday because of unscheduled repair work and weather concerns
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-118 has been postponed 24 hours to allow the shuttle processing team additional time to complete routine work before liftoff. The launch now is targeted for Wednesday, Aug. 8, at 6:36 p.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The additional day will provide time to complete the processing and allow the countdown to begin at 8 p.m. Sunday. As originally planned, the STS-118 crew will arrive at Kennedy at 5 p.m. Friday. NASA Television will air live coverage of the arrival. On launch day, live coverage starts at 8:30 a.m.
Nasa engineers are working against the clock to isolate an air leak in space shuttle Endeavour's cabin in order to prevent a launch delay. The leak was discovered at the weekend; an initial attempt to fix by tightening a loose bolt appeared to have worked. But tests on Monday showed that air was still escaping from the shuttle cabin. Officials are concerned that it could force lift-off to be postponed, but, for the moment, Endeavour remains on track to launch on 7 August.
NASA will start the launch countdown for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 mission at 9 p.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 4, at T-43 hours. The countdown includes 27 hours, 3 minutes of built-in hold time leading to a preferred launch time at 23:02 GMT, (7:02 p.m. EDT) Tuesday, Aug. 7. The launch window extends an additional five minutes. This flight will deliver and attach the third starboard truss segment to the station -- the Integrated Truss Structure S5. A Spacehab module riding in Endeavour's payload bay will ferry supplies and equipment to the ISS.
A Canadian astronaut will be paying tribute to his Welsh heritage once more on his second mission into space. Dafydd Rhys Williams, whose father was from the valleys town of Bargoed, has already spoken Welsh in space and taken Gareth Edwards' rugby cap into orbit. Weeks away from his second trip on the space shuttle, Dr Williams told BBC Wales that a Welsh dragon would be watching over his mission notebook.
NASA 'Covers Bases' In Response To Shuttle Sign Change NASA's graphics department apparently has a sense of humour concerning a story about a misspelling on a shuttle sign that gained national attention Friday after it was posted on Local6.com.
The first NASA sign at launch pad 39A encouraging the next launch of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Centre was misspelled and noticed by someone looking at the craft.
Space shuttle Endeavour arrived at its launch pad early yesterday for a flight to send teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan and six crewmates to the international space station.