CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 11, 2009
Lightning Delays Space Shuttle Launch
NASA Inspects Endeavour Following Lightning Storm, May Lift Off Sunday Evening
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Play CBS Video Video Lightning Strikes NASA Pad "CBS News RAW": A large lightning bolt struck the lightning mast on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA decided to delay The Space shuttle Endeavour's launch due to the lightning.
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An image from video showing a large lightning bolt striking the lightning mast on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Friday July 10, 2009. (AP Photo/NASA)
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NASA technicians found no damage after an electrical storm Friday afternoon, but said they will need at least another day to check critical systems.
A mission management team plans to meet early Sunday to determine if all the testing has been completed and whether to fuel Endeavour for a possible Sunday evening launch. Liftoff would be at 7:13 p.m. if NASA attempts to launch Sunday.
Mike Moses, chairman of that team, said there were 11 lightning strikes within three-tenths of a mile of the pad, although none of them struck the shuttle, external tank or the two solid rocket boosters.
At the pad, the shuttle has an elaborate lightning protection system with sensors and wires to direct lightning away from the shuttle and its rockets.
"The lightning protection system did its job," he said.
Moses said the assessment can be done in 24 hours, but there could be another delay if it isn't finished. A complete retest of the system could take two weeks.
Sunday's weather is expected to be slightly better, with conditions 60 percent favorable for launch. The main concern will be thunderstorms.
Endeavour should have blasted off to the international space station in mid-June, but was grounded by potentially dangerous leaks of hydrogen gas. Repairs to a misaligned plate on the external fuel tank, which hooks up with a hydrogen vent line, solved the problem.
The shuttle and its crew are set to deliver and install the third and final piece of Japan's $1 billion space station lab, named Kibo - Japanese for hope. The first two sections flew up last year.
Seven shuttle astronauts plus six station residents will make for the biggest crowd ever in orbit.
Five spacewalks are planned during the 16-day flight.
NASA has until Tuesday or possibly Wednesday to send up Endeavour before making way for the launch of an unmanned Russian supply ship. After that, the shuttle flight would be off until late July.
For more info:
By Associated Press Writer Ron Word
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- It's a sign.
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- This whole thing is costing the tax payers so much money and to me it is just not worth it at all and that is a fact.
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- Exploration and science have always cost money, from ancient times to now. The status quo way is a path to stagnation and ultimately extinction. Space exploration affords the opportunities for new discoveries, ultimately the option for the human race to live on more than one planetary body. The movies about death-dealing asteroids and such wiping out humanity are far less likely when all of the eggs are not in the same basket. Currently funding for the ISS is not borne solely by the US; Canada, Japan, Russia, Italy and others also contribute monies, research, and technology. As a people we learned that the earth was not flat, then we learned that we could put a man on the moon (something that India and Cina have sworn to do by 2020), and soon we will learn that we can go to another planet (Mars). If we only look at the ground beneath our feet we can always find a reason to spend all of our efforts trying to fix things on the ground, i.e. poverty, famine, disease, education, that we have tried many times in the past ,and will continue to try, to resolve. When we look up at the stars, like the circumnavigators of old looked at the unknown expanse of ocean, we inspire ourselves with what may be, and what might be, and then we are motivated to go and find out.
