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Russian space managers have agreed to move up the launch of an unmanned Progress supply ship by two days to Feb. 5, clearing the way for NASA to retarget launch of the shuttle Atlantis on a twice-delayed space station assembly mission for Feb. 7. NASA managers made the decision Thursday and officially announced it Friday, after consultation with the agency's international partners.
Originally scheduled for launch last month, Atlantis was grounded Dec. 6 and 9 because of intermittent problems with troublesome low-level hydrogen sensors in the ship's external tank. Before the Christmas break, officials said launch was off until at least Jan. 10 and on Jan. 3, the "no-earlier-than" date was moved to Jan. 24.
But resolving the engine cutoff - ECO - sensor problem has been difficult and deputy shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters at that time the launch likely would slip into early February. This week, agency managers decided to move the launch target to Feb. 7 after Russian space officials agreed to move the Progress up two days to Feb. 5.
Assuming the schedule holds up - and on-going tests show an upgraded ECO system wiring connector works as expected - Atlantis would take off around 2:47 p.m. EST on Feb. 7, setting up a docking with the space station around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 9. Three spacewalks are planned, on Feb. 10, 12 and 14 with undocking on Feb. 16 and landing back at the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 18. The two-month launch delay means a flight by the shuttle Endeavour that originally was scheduled for mid February will slip to mid March instead, a ripple effect for other downstream flights. That includes Atlantis' next mission, a long-awaited flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch had been planned for around Aug. 7 but the flight is now expected to slip to the end of August or into early September.
Originally scheduled for launch last month, Atlantis was grounded Dec. 6 and 9 because of intermittent problems with troublesome low-level hydrogen sensors in the ship's external tank. Before the Christmas break, officials said launch was off until at least Jan. 10 and on Jan. 3, the "no-earlier-than" date was moved to Jan. 24.
But resolving the engine cutoff - ECO - sensor problem has been difficult and deputy shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters at that time the launch likely would slip into early February. This week, agency managers decided to move the launch target to Feb. 7 after Russian space officials agreed to move the Progress up two days to Feb. 5.
Assuming the schedule holds up - and on-going tests show an upgraded ECO system wiring connector works as expected - Atlantis would take off around 2:47 p.m. EST on Feb. 7, setting up a docking with the space station around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 9. Three spacewalks are planned, on Feb. 10, 12 and 14 with undocking on Feb. 16 and landing back at the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 18. The two-month launch delay means a flight by the shuttle Endeavour that originally was scheduled for mid February will slip to mid March instead, a ripple effect for other downstream flights. That includes Atlantis' next mission, a long-awaited flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch had been planned for around Aug. 7 but the flight is now expected to slip to the end of August or into early September.
