Cape Canaveral, Florida (ANTARA News/AFP) - Technicians late Sunday were set to begin repairing a hydrogen gas leak on the US space shuttle Endeavour that has postponed a mission to the International Space Station, NASA said.
The mission management team began holding a meeting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) to discuss the repairs.
NASA officials were to hold a press conference later Sunday to announce a tentative revised launch schedule.
Teams of technicians arrived earlier at the space center`s Launch Pad 39A, near the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), which is attached to the shuttle`s massive external fuel tank. They were expected to later begin changing out seals in the plate`s internal connection points.
The leak in a venting system was detected early Saturday just hours before the shuttle`s planned launch. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.
A vent line leads from the carrier plate to a "flare stack," where excess hydrogen is safely burned off away from the launch pad.
Endeavour`s leak, the US space agency said, is similar to one that scuttled the first launch attempt of the space shuttle Discovery`s STS-119 mission in March.
The technicians planned to use the same repair method that led to Discovery`s successful launch on its second attempt.
Officials said Endeavour`s new target launch date of June 17 may also present a conflict as NASA has scheduled for that day the launch of the Lunar crater observation and sensing satellite (LRO/LCROSS), which is due to lift off on top of an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
But NASA may prioritize Endeavour, whose June launch window closes on Saturday. If a launch then proves unattainable, the only next available blast-off date would July 11 at the earliest.
LRO/LCROSS has another launch window in late June.
When Endeavour finally lifts off, it will be the 32nd mission to the ISS, which orbits 350 kilometers (220 miles) above Earth, and the last of three missions to assemble the Japanese Kibo laboratory aboard the orbiting space station. (*)
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