NASA to know Sunday whether shuttle can fly Monday

sahara_mafia · May 1, 2011, 12:29 PM

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Engineers made their way into the guts of the space shuttle Endeavour to track down the cause of its puzzling heater problem, and expect to know by Sunday whether the glitch can be fixed in time for a launch on Monday.

The answer will determine whether Endeavour's six-man crew and their families — including wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — should stick around for the next week, or come back sometime around Mother's Day.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including President Barack Obama and his family, were converging on Kennedy Space Center and its environs when the launch was called off Friday afternoon. It took a day to remove all the fuel from the shuttle's external tank, and it wasn't until Saturday that technicians could gain access to Endeavour's left rear compartment.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said the launch-pad team would work through the night to figure out what went wrong in the heating system for an auxiliary power unit that controls crucial hydraulics.

Source : MSNBC

Liqourice · May 2, 2011, 02:14 AM

Oh, I thought the shuttle program was scrapped already..

May 1, 2011, 12:29 PM	#1
sahara_mafia member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: botswana Posts: 3,368 Rep Power: 155 System Specs	NASA to know Sunday whether shuttle can fly Monday CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Engineers made their way into the guts of the space shuttle Endeavour to track down the cause of its puzzling heater problem, and expect to know by Sunday whether the glitch can be fixed in time for a launch on Monday. The answer will determine whether Endeavour's six-man crew and their families — including wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — should stick around for the next week, or come back sometime around Mother's Day. Hundreds of thousands of people, including President Barack Obama and his family, were converging on Kennedy Space Center and its environs when the launch was called off Friday afternoon. It took a day to remove all the fuel from the shuttle's external tank, and it wasn't until Saturday that technicians could gain access to Endeavour's left rear compartment. NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said the launch-pad team would work through the night to figure out what went wrong in the heating system for an auxiliary power unit that controls crucial hydraulics. Source : MSNBC __________________

May 2, 2011, 02:14 AM	#2
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,723 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: NASA to know Sunday whether shuttle can fly Monday Oh, I thought the shuttle program was scrapped already..