Space Shuttle Endeavour still stuck on launch pad
- 00:01:22
- ITN
Space Shuttle Endeavour still stuck on launch pad
A potentially dangerous hydrogen leak has forced Nasa to cancel the launch of space shuttle Endeavour for a second time. An identical problem stopped Saturday's launch when the shuttle was being fueled for flight. The next opportunity to launch Endeavour will be on July 11. Launching before July 11 is not an option because the angle of the sun would overheat the shuttle while it was docked at the space station. Technicians had replaced seals in a hydrogen vent line in hopes of stemming the leak. The vent line removes hydrogen that has turned from liquid to gas inside the shuttle's fuel tank. The highly volatile gas is funneled to a flare stack away from the shuttle and safely incinerated. Deputy shuttle program manager LeRoy Cain said: "We're going to step back and figure out what the problem is and go fix it. Obviously we have something here we didn't understand as well as we thought we may have." Endeavour had been scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a 16-day mission to install a Japanese-built porch on the International Space Station. With the shuttle launch delayed until July, Nasa will turn its attention to the debut mission in its new exploration initiative aimed at returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, due to launch as early as Thursday, is designed to spend a year scouting the moon's surface for prospective landing spots. The spacecraft includes a second satellite that will crash into a lunar crater to look for water.
ITN | June 17, 2009
