Space Shuttle Endeavour delayed again as NASA races against the clock

A hydrogen leak in the same general area that delayed the first attempt at launching Endeavour STS-127 has been located for the third time. Check out the time lapse of engineers fixing the last leak below.

This will delay Endeavour's plan to return to the International Space Station for a 13 day mission to attach Japan's final module. According to NASA, the next try will be July 11 at the earliest. This is due to an unfavorable high sun angle this time of year.

Click here for more on the initial delay.

Time lapse of engineers fixing the last hydrogen leak

NASA is against the clock as they try to keep with White House plans complete the Space Shuttle Program by the end of 2010. These delays not only push the remaining 8 missions into a shorter time frame, but comes at a very bad time. An independent committee studying plans for the Space Shuttle's successor meets today in Washington. They are evaluating plans for the next program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020.

This delay had forced NASA to postpone today's planned launch of the lunar mission LRO LCROSS.

This is part of a search for water, ice and weather measurements in our solar system.

STS-127 Mission Overview

The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.

Image above: This close-up image reveals the Ground Umbilical Carrier Panel area on space shuttle Endeavour's external fuel tank. Image credit: NASA TV

The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.

STS-127 Additional Resources
› Mission Press Kit (6.3 Mb PDF)
› Mission Summary (484KB PDF)
› Meet the STS-127 Crew
› Flow Valve Fact Sheet (447 Kb PDF)