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.

FMI: www.nasa.gov