NASA scrubs January shuttle launch
The space shuttle Atlantis mission to the international space station likely will be pushed back a few more days or weeks as engineers study problems with electrical connectors in the spaceships external fuel tank, a top NASA manager said Thursday. NASA had been aiming for a Jan. 10 liftoff of Atlantis with a European lab for the space station. But shuttle program manager Wayne Hale indicated last week that the launch likely would be delayed after a test pointed to a bad connector.
Last weeks fuel tank test indicated open circuits in the connector that passes through the wall of the fuel tank, linking wiring between the gauges in the tank and Atlantis. Senior NASA managers decided Thursday to remove a plug and electrical connector from the tank and send it to an Alabama testing facility to be studied and repaired, Hale said. At this point, it appears all the work can be done while Atlantis is on the launch pad, he added.
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