Wed, Jun 17, 2009
Will Third Time Be The Charm?
Boy... this has to be tough on the crew of STS-127... for the
second time, they've been all set and ready to launch... only to
have to make plans for another day.
At 1:55 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, launch managers called a scrub,
cancelling the day's planned launch of space shuttle Endeavour on
its STS-127 mission. Despite troubleshooting efforts, engineers
were unable to achieve a decrease in the liquid hydrogen leak
associated with the external fuel tank's ground umbilical carrier
panel. This is the same location where a similar leak resulted in a
launch scrub on June 13th.
The 16-day mission of Endeavour will feature five spacewalks and
complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's
Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside
of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to
space.
The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug
Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom
Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie
Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on
Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.
Endeavour's next launch opportunity is July 11. This date comes
after the end of an orbital sun-angle condition called a beta angle
cut-out, which occurs between June 22 and July 10. The cut-out
creates a thermal condition that prohibits shuttle and space
station docked operations.
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