SALON

Sunday, May 1, 2011 5:41 PM UTC

NASA: Endeavour’s last launch delayed again

No word yet on what day the space shuttle -- carrying Gabrielle Giffords' husband, Mark Kelley -- will take off

By

Topics: NASA, Gabrielle Giffords,

NASA: Endeavour's last launch delayed againIn this picture made available by NASA, the last crew of the space shuttle Endeavour stands together on Launch Pad 39A in front of its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, April 28, 2011, one day before its final flight. From left are Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, Commander Mark Kelly, European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori and Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff. (AP Photo/NASA, Kim Shiflett) (Credit: AP)

Space shuttle Endeavour’s final launch is off until at least the end of the week because technicians need to replace a switch box in the engine compartment, NASA said Sunday.

The six astronauts — led by commander Mark Kelly — wasted no time heading back to Houston.

Kelly’s wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, did not join the astronauts in flying back. The timing of her return to Houston, to resume rehab after being wounded in a shooting rampage four months ago, was uncertain.

As late as Saturday, the astronauts and their families were still hoping for a possible launch attempt on Monday. But NASA gave up on that once it became clear extensive repair work would be needed to fix a faulty heater system aboard Endeavour. The trouble prevented the shuttle from blasting off Friday; President Barack Obama and his family were among those missing out.

“We all had our fingers crossed looking forward to a quick rescheduling of the launch,” said C.J. Karamargin, a Giffords spokesman.

Said Endeavour’s pilot, Gregory Johnson, in a Sunday morning tweet: “Things happen fast. We are now all aboard (a plane) for return to Houston. Be back in a few days. More to follow.”

The flight — the second-to-last in NASA’s 30-year shuttle program — has attracted intense interest because of Giffords, who was shot through the head nearly four months ago.

Giffords arrived in Cape Canaveral last Wednesday to be with her husband and the five other astronauts and their families, and to see him rocket into orbit. It was not immediately known if she would return for the second try.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said technicians and engineers will replace a suspect switch box in Endeavour’s engine compartment. Two days of testing are required, once the new box goes in.

A new launch date was not set, Beutel said, but given all the repair work, the next opportunity appeared to be no earlier than the end of the week. Complicating matters is Friday’s planned launch of a military satellite; NASA will have to give the unmanned rocket a chance to soar before Endeavour can make a second stab at blasting off to the International Space Station.

Endeavour holds a $2 billion particle physics experiment and spare space station parts.

NASA had fueled Endeavour and Kelly and his crew were en route to the launch pad on Friday when the countdown was halted. A heater for the fuel line leading to one of the shuttle’s auxiliary power unit had failed. Engineers hoped it would be an easy fix, but weekend testing showed that the most likely culprit was the switch box.

While disappointed not to see a liftoff, Obama, his wife and two daughters visited Kennedy Space Center anyway and got to see shuttle Atlantis in the hangar, and meet with Giffords and the entire Endeavour crew.

Hundreds of thousands had begun to descend on Cape Canaveral and, like the astronauts, did a U-turn once Friday’s launch was called off.

Only one other shuttle mission remains, by Atlantis this summer.

More Marcia Dunn.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 7 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
368 points369 points | 356 comments
vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
269 points270 points | 28 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
230 points231 points | 32 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills -- radical cuts destroy economies and lives, and the honest numbers and economics keep proving it
124 points125 points | 15 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
114 points115 points | 15 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations