A technician participates in test of a new Loads Control Assembly in Endeavour's aft compartment. Photo Credit/NASA Photo
NASA on Friday re-targeted shuttle Endeavour’s final mission for a May 16 lift off from the Kennedy Space Center.
The schedule, however, depends on how quickly technicians complete work to recover from the April 29 scrub that brought to a halt the ship’s send off to the International Space Station with the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and spare parts for the orbiting science laboratory.
The launch time is 8:56 a.m., EDT.
On Friday, top mission managers also agreed to extend the mission from 14 to 16 days in part because three of the space station’s six astronauts are scheduled to depart the lab for Earth on May 23, leaving the outpost short handed.
The scrub was prompted by the failure of a fuel line heater on one of Endeavour’s three Auxiliary Power Units. The APUs generate hydraulic force to move the shuttle’s rocket nozzles and the orbiter’s aero surfaces.
Since the stand down, engineers have traced the most likely cause of the difficulties to a short within the Loads Control Assembly-2 box. The hefty box that sits inside Endeavour’s engine compartment is filled with switches that route power to nine shuttle systems, including propulsion and life support, as well as the heater power.
The electronics box has been replaced. New wiring between the box and the failed heater was being installed on Friday.
Endeavour’s crew has trained to place the AMS, a particle detector for studies of cosmic rays including dark matter and anti matter, and a platform holding spare parts for the station on the big lab’s solar power truss.
Four spacewalks are planned as well.
A new countdown will begin on May 13.
Endeavour’s launch period extends through May 26.
The flight will mark the 19-year-old Endeavour’s 25th trip to space.