NASA
managers are targeting a Feb. 7 launch date for the space shuttle Atlantis
as engineers prepare to replace an electrical connector in the spacecraft's
external fuel tank.
A decision on
the proposed launch target could come as soon as Friday, pending coordination between
shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) managers, as well as the agency's
international partners, said Candrea Thomas, a spokesperson at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Meanwhile,
shuttle workers are expected to complete efforts to replace
a suspect electrical connector on Atlantis' 15-story external tank early
Friday, Thomas told SPACE.com.
Atlantis' mission
to deliver a new
European laboratory to the ISS has been delayed since early December, when
fuel tank sensor glitches thwarted
two launch attempts. NASA tracked the malfunction to apparent open circuits
in an electrical connector used to route sensor wiring from inside the fuel
tank to equipment inside Atlantis.
Shuttle
managers set a tentative launch target of no earlier than Jan. 24 last week,
but added that a slip to early February was likely as engineers continue work
on the fuel tank connector.
NASA
engineers believe that the super-cold temperatures of Atlantis' liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen propellant lead to intermittent open circuits between wiring
and metal pins inside the electrical connector. They soldered wires directly to
their corresponding pins on the new connector to avoid similar glitches in the
future, NASA officials said.
The
so-called feed-through connector is located low on Atlantis' external tank and
is part of a backup system that monitors a shuttle's fuel levels during launch.
The engine cutoff system is designed to shut down an orbiter's three main
engines before its fuel tank runs dry.
Commanded by
veteran shuttle flyer Stephen Frick, the seven astronauts of Atlantis' STS-122
crew will install the European Space Agency's Columbus lab at the ISS during their
upcoming spaceflight. The 11-day mission will mark the first of five scheduled
shuttle flights of 2008 to continue ISS construction and overhaul the Hubble
Space Telescope, NASA has said.
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