Endeavour’s last launch delayed by NASA at the last moment

Though Endeavour had been slated to launch for its last mission on Friday, April 29, the liftoff was halted at the last moment as a result of a heater failure.

According to Mike Leinbach, the shuttle launch director, there was also a second heater that had been “exhibiting some funny behavior”.  Leinbach stated that it is believed that one of the issues with the heaters may be a short circuit within the switch box of the device.  NASA will be having a look at this equipment as early as Friday night in order to make the necessary changes to it.

NASA estimates that the Endeavour launch should be able to be rescheduled for Monday, May 2, 2011, if all goes well.

When the announcement was made, the shuttle’s crew had already been on their way to the launch pad.  This was the penultimate liftoff for the NASA shuttle program, which had drawn a significant amount of attention due to the anticipated attendance of President Barack Obama and his family, as well as Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is still in recovery after having been shot in an assassination attempt.  Mark Kelly, the commander of Endeavour, is the husband of Ms. Giffords.

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Posted by Louise Wellington on Apr 30 2011. Filed under Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.