The U.S. space agency on Saturday announced that they will delay the
launch of space shuttle Atlantis until Sunday at the earliest.
NASA authorities on Friday discussed how to fix the problem of faulty fuel sensors, which was found during the countdown launch on Thursday.
After the authorities discussed the problem for six hours, they were too late to determine if they would want to launch the shuttle on Saturday.
On Thursday, the gauges at the bottom of the external fuel tank failed to function during a countdown at the launch pad.
Now the liftoff is set for 3:21 p.m. EST (2021 GMT) Sunday; it is considered as a favorable day based on weather conditions with 70 percent of probability to launch, according to a NASA meteorologist.
"If we find that this proposal allow us to fly with an acceptable risk we'll try to launch Sunday," Wayne Hale, director of the shuttle program, told Agency France Press.
Hale said three sensors stopped working failing the space shuttle to launch. He added that NASA engineer are likely to meet at 1300 HRS (1800 GMT) on Saturday to inspect the launching possibilities again.
According to the Associated Press, NASA must launch the shuttle by Thursday or Friday at the latest, or conditions for docking become unfavorable and it will have to scrub the mission until January.(ahn)
The U.S. space agency on Saturday announced that they will delay the
launch of space shuttle Atlantis until Sunday at the earliest.
(0 vote)
