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.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle