NASA Eyes Feb. 7 Launch Date for Shuttle Atlantis

By Tariq Malik
published

NASA Delays Shuttle Launch to January After Fuel Sensor Glitch
In the late afternoon shadows, space shuttle Atlantis is still poised on the pad after its launch on mission STS-122 was postponed on Dec. 6, 2007. (Image credit: NASA/George Shelton.)

NASAmanagers are targeting a Feb. 7 launch date for the space shuttle Atlantisas engineers prepare to replace an electrical connector in the spacecraft?sexternal fuel tank.

A decision onthe proposed launch target could come as soon as Friday, pending coordination betweenshuttle and International Space Station (ISS) managers, as well as the agency?sinternational partners, said Candrea Thomas, a spokesperson at NASA?s KennedySpace Center spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Meanwhile,shuttle workers are expected to complete efforts to replacea suspect electrical connector on Atlantis? 15-story external tank earlyFriday, Thomas told SPACE.com.

Atlantis? missionto deliver a newEuropean laboratory to the ISS has been delayed since early December, whenfuel tank sensor glitches thwartedtwo launch attempts. NASA tracked the malfunction to apparent open circuitsin an electrical connector used to route sensor wiring from inside the fueltank to equipment inside Atlantis.

Shuttlemanagers 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 workon the fuel tank connector.

NASAengineers believe that the super-cold temperatures of Atlantis? liquid hydrogenand liquid oxygen propellant lead to intermittent open circuits between wiringand metal pins inside the electrical connector. They soldered wires directly totheir corresponding pins on the new connector to avoid similar glitches in thefuture, NASA officials said.

Theso-called feed-through connector is located low on Atlantis? external tank andis 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 mainengines before its fuel tank runs dry.

Commanded byveteran shuttle flyer Stephen Frick, the seven astronauts of Atlantis? STS-122crew will install the European Space Agency?s Columbus lab at the ISS during theirupcoming spaceflight. The 11-day mission will mark the first of five scheduledshuttle flights of 2008 to continue ISS construction and overhaul the HubbleSpace Telescope, NASA has said.

  • SPACE.com Video Interplayer: NASA's STS-122: Columbus Sets Sail for ISS
  • Top 10 Spaceflight Stories of 2007
  • VIDEO: ISS Commander Peggy Whitson Takes Charge

 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.