Washington - NASA is eying Wednesday to launch the delayed
space shuttle Endeavour, but there could be a conflict with the send
up of two moon-bound satellites, NASA officials said.
NASA officials plan to make a final decision Monday night, they
said on Sunday.
Saturday's Endeavour launch to the space station from Cape
Canaveral, Florida, was called off because of a leak during the
fuelling process similar to one in March that delayed the launch of
the Discovery shuttle.
If NASA decides to launch Endeavour on Wednesday, it would
postpone the scheduled launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
(LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCOSS) to
Friday or Saturday. The dual mission is the first step in putting
humans back on the moon in NASA's next phase after the ageing
shuttles are retired in 2010.
But if Endeavour is not ready on Wednesday, NASA officials said
they would keep the moon launch on schedule and attempt to launch the
shuttle on Saturday.
NASA postponed the Endeavour lift-off Saturday after it discovered
that hydrogen was leaking from a vent line and had to empty the fuel
tank containing liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
Endeavour is to carry seven astronauts on a 16-day mission to work
on the assembly of the Japanese Kibo module, part of the
International Space Station.
In the leak in March, NASA replaced a fuel venting valve and
Discovery was able to launch after a delay.
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