NASA postponed space shuttle Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station on Saturday because of a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttles external fuel tank. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad. Managers scrubbed the launch for at least 96 hours. The earliest the shuttle could be ready to launch is June 17. However, there is a conflict on the Eastern Range that date with the scheduled launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour has been cancelled due to a hydrogen leak, Nasa officials have announced. Endeavour was due to take off from Cape Canaveral with seven astronauts at 0717 local time (1117 GMT), but launch was cancelled several hours beforehand. The problem was discovered during fuelling, before the astronauts had donned their spacesuits.
Student-made devices will launch with shuttle. Longhorns and Aggies will be watching the sky on Saturday as the Space Shuttle Endeavour launches with a 7½-pound "picosatellite" built by University of Texas aerospace engineering students, along with a companion satellite built by Texas A&M University students. BEVO-1 and AggieSat1 are designed to test a GPS satellite receiver that NASA built. They are the first of a four-part mission over the next eight years, in which students hope to eventually build two satellites that can dock in space without help from humans.
Final "Kibo" assembly flight (2J/A) is set to be launched at 11:17 GMT on June 13. The next Space Shuttle Endeavour mission has been set for 11:17 GMT on June 13 (8:17 p.m. Sat. Japan Standard Time, or at 7:17 a.m. on June 13, US Eastern Daylight Savings Time). The Endeavour will carry the Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistic Module Exposed Section of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" to the International Space Station (ISS.) With this 2J/A (STS-127) mission, the assembly of the "Kibo" will be completed. Astronaut Wakata, who has been at the ISS as a crewmember of Expedition 18/19/20 since March, is slated to come back to Earth on the Shuttle after completing the assembly.
The seven STS-127 astronauts returned to NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the early hours on Tuesday, June 9, for final preparations before Endeavours launch on Saturday, June 13. Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the final components of Kibo to the station. The 16-day flight will include five spacewalks and the installation of two platforms outside of the Japanese module. Endeavour also will deliver a new crew member to the station. Tim Kopra will replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has been aboard the orbiting laboratory for more than three months. Mark Polansky is Endeavours commander and Doug Hurley will serve as the pilot. The Mission Specialists are Chris Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette.
NASA Gives 'Go' for June 13 Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour NASA managers completed a review Wednesday of space shuttle Endeavour's readiness for flight and selected June 13 as the official launch date for the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station.
The seven-member crew of the next space shuttle mission spoke with media June 3 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A in Florida. The astronauts for shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission are at Kennedy to participate in a full launch dress rehearsal known as the terminal countdown demonstration test.
Endeavour is set to roll from Kennedy's Launch Pad 39B to Launch Pad 39A on May 31, setting the stage for the terminal countdown demonstration test next week. The STS-127 payload, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, is already at Launch Pad 39A and will be installed in Endeavour after the shuttle arrives at the pad. Liftoff is scheduled for June 13.