Endeavour Won't Launch on Monday
Sunday, May 1, 2011
By: Judith Smelser

May 1, 2011 | WMFE - NASA says it need more time to fix a problem with two heaters that forced the cancellation Space Shuttle Endeavour's final launch on Friday. Officials have not set a new target date for the liftoff, but they say it will not come before the end of this week.

NASA sent Endeavour’s six astronauts back to their home base in Houston for a few days of training, while workers at Kennedy Space Center try to fix the problem on Endeavour.

Technicians now think they need to replace a switch box associated with a power unit that makes sure the shuttle’s landing gear, tail fin, and other functions work properly.  Those units are equipped with heaters that make sure fuel lines that supply the units don’t freeze and possibly rupture in flight.  Several of those heaters are not working properly on Endeavour.

NASA says will take several days to fix the problem.  That timeframe could bump up against the schedule for this Friday’s planned launch of an Air Force Atlas 5 rocket.  The shuttle is not allowed to launch starting two days before that liftoff, and NASA is unlikely to finish Endeavour’s repairs by that time.  NASA may talk to the Air Force about moving the Atlas launch if the shuttle is ready to fly by the end of this week.