The space shuttle Atlantis' mission to the international space station will be delayed until late January or early February to replace a faulty connector in the external fuel tank, NASA announced Thursday afternoon.
The liftoff of Atlantis will take place until at least Jan. 24, said NASA's deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon.
Repairing the connector and the fuel tank test will take "several days or weeks", he said.
Failures of shuttle fuel gauges - part of a critical safety system - forced NASA to delay the launch several times in Dec. 2007.
The launch of Atlantis, with the European-built Columbus lab for the space station, was originally scheduled for Dec. 6, 2007.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article