Wed, Aug 01, 2007
Clock Is Ticking To Meet August 7 Launch Date
NASA announced Tuesday its engineers are having difficulty
pinpointing the source of an air leak detected this weekend in the
cabin of the shuttle Endeavour, which now sits on pad 39-A at
Kennedy Space Center, awaiting a planned August 7 launch.
Agency spokeswoman Tracy Young told The Washington Post
scientists had thought they solved the problem Sunday night, when a
loose bolt on a ground supply unit was tightened... but tests
Monday night confirmed air was still leaking from the crew
compartment, and it appears to be coming from inside the cabin, not
the outside.
Engineers now believe an air valve on the shuttle's middeck may
be to blame. The problem isn't difficult to repair... but it is not
in the easiest place to access. That valve is behind a wall, near
the orbiter's waste reclamation unit (a toilet, for the rest of
us.)
With less than one week to go before the scheduled launch, that
doesn't leave NASA with much time to effect a repair -- and that's
assuming that is, in fact, where the air is leaking from.
If the part is found to be faulty, NASA will cannibalize a
working unit off Atlantis. Air currently is leaking from the
shuttle at four times the normal rate, according to Central Florida
News 13.
Adding to NASA's stress level is the weather. A danger of
lightning at the launch pad has kept workers from venturing out to
the orbiter, to begin work on tracking down the leak source.
Stay tuned.
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