CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is repairing a leaky hydrogen gas line on Endeavour’s fuel tank in hopes of launching the shuttle on its space station construction mission Wednesday, four days after the first try was called off.
But another NASA mission, involving a pair of science spacecraft bound for the moon, is scheduled to blast off Wednesday. Top space agency officials will decide today whether to bump the moon mission to make way for Endeavour.
Mission management team chairman LeRoy Cain said Sunday that it’s likely Endeavour will go first — if the repair effort goes well, no other shuttle problems crop up and the weather cooperates.
Endeavour must fly by this weekend, otherwise the mission to deliver the final piece of the Japanese space station lab must wait until mid-July because of unfavorable sun angles that would heat up the shuttle.
by the associated press
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