Mike Moses, NASA's Mission Management Team chairman, briefs news media on Sunday. Photo Credit/NASA TV
SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE, 2:15 p.m., EDT: May 8 is the earliest NASA could consider another attempt to launch shuttle Endeavour, NASA officials told a news briefing.
“We can tell you it will not be earlier than May 8,” said Mike Moses, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team. “Don’t take that as a launch date. Take that as a target.”
“It’s just part of the business,” said Mike Leinbach, NASA’s shuttle launch director.
On May 8, the launch would be targeted for 12:09 p.m, EDT.
Endeavour awaits new launch date. Photo Credit/NASA TV
NASA has suspended efforts for a second attempt to launch the shuttle Endeavour on Monday.
The decision by mission managers was made Sunday when it became clear more troubleshooting would be required to repair the hydraulic system heater that failed in the final hours of Friday’s countdown, preventing Endeavour’s final mission from lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center.
Early Sunday, NASA could say only that it was looking to “late this week” before making another bid to launch Endeavour on a 14 to 16-day mission to equip the International Space Station with the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a platform with external spare parts.
In a statement, NASA said it expected to set a new target launch date on Monday.
The shuttle’s hydraulic system steers the shuttle as it climbs to orbit and descends to Earth, by moving rocket engine nozzles as well as the body flap, rudder and elevons. The failed heater prevents the fuel that runs one of the three Auxiliary Power Units that furnish the hydraulic pressure from freezing.
Endeavour commander Mark Kelly and his crew, pilot Greg H. Johnson, Mike Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Drew Feustel and Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency left Endeavour’s Florida launch site Sunday morning aboard a NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft for Houston, where they will resume training at the Johnson Space Center.
During the shuttle stand down, the U. S. Air Force plans the launching of the first Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous missile-warning satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas 5 rocket on Friday. The Air Force launch complex adjoins Kennedy.
The previously scheduled Atlas 5 operations preclude a shuttle launch on Thursday through Saturday, NASA said earlier.
The failed hydraulic heater assembly is located in Endeavour’s cramped engine compartment.
Over the weekend, engineers determined the difficulty is most likely inside an electronics switching box that will have to be removed. Once replaced, the new box will require testing at the launch pad.
Future launch opportunities for Endeavour extend from Sunday through May 29.