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Saturday, June 20, 2009

H2 Fuel Leak Again Postpones the Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor

For the second attempt during a session of 5 days, NASA had to postpone the launch of space shuttle Endeavor's STS-127 mission due to a detection of the hydrogen gas leak, on last Wednesday the 17th. The launch was postponed earlier on last Saturday, the 13th due to a similar reason. The leak had been observed from the gaseous hydrogen venting system, located outside the shuttle's external fuel tank.

However Endeavor's next launch has been arranged to tale place on next 11th. This is because, of a beta angle cut-out, which is an orbital sun-angle condition, occurring from 22nd June to 10th July. Basically this cut-out results in a thermal condition that prevents docked operations.
H2 Fuel Leak Again Postpones the Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor
Moreover the H2 venting system is functional for carrying the excess H2 away from the launch pad.

Beginning from July 11th, the 16-day space mission will employ the astronaut crew installing a new module for the JAXA's (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) Kibo Science Laboratory at ISS (International Space Station).

This is planned to be done with 5 spacewalks and in additi0n, there will also be a replacement of the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wataka presently at the ISS by the NASA Flight Engineer Timothy Kopra.

Stay tuned with the latest updates with Mission Commander Mark Polansky's twitter feed..

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