William Atkins
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 19:36
Science -
Space
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NASA announced June 15, 2009, that the space shuttle Endeavour will lift off on June 17 for the Space Station, followed by the launch, one day later, of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite for its very important mission to study the Moon up close and personal.
The launch of
STS-127 is scheduled to occur at 5:40 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 940 UTC, on Wednesday, June 17, at launch complex 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Because of the new Endeavour launch day, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (
LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (
LCROSS) was delayed by one day. Its mission is now scheduled to launch on Thursday, June 18.
LRO/LCROSS has three possible launch windows (opportunities) on Thursday: 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m., and 5:32 p.m. the satellite pair will be launched from a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Both launch sites for the shuttle and the lunar explorers are within the Air Force Eastern Test Range (
ETR).
This re-arrangement of launch times occurred because a gaseous hydrogen leak was discovered in the venting system outside the external fuel tank (ET) of Endeavour. Excess hydrogen gas is expelled from the launch pad, and its expulsion is necessary to successfully and safely carry out a shuttle launch.
The repair took about four days to complete, as NASA technicians and engineers replaced a faulty umbilical plate seal.
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