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NASA postpones Endeavour launch to Wednesday
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour next week has been postponed to Wednesday because of unexpected work to fix a leak in the crew cabin, NASA officials said.
The launch of space shuttle Endeavour next week has been postponed to Wednesday because of unexpected work to fix a leak in the crew cabin, National Aeronautics and Space Agency officials said.
Endeavour was originally scheduled to be launched Aug 7 but NASA on Friday said it will now be launched on Aug 8, at 22.36 GMT.
An earlier leak in Endeavour's crew cabin has been fully resolved. The problem was traced to one of two positive pressure-relief valves that ensure the cabin does not become over-pressurized.
The suspect valve was removed and replaced with a valve from space shuttle Atlantis. Another round of testing was successfully completed Thursday night, with no leakage detected, NASA said.
The additional day will provide the shuttle processing team more time to complete routine work before liftoff.
Led by Commander Scott Kelly, the sever-member flight crew of Endeavour is set to arrive late on Friday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will spend the remaining days until launch undergoing final pre-launch preparations.
