Endeavour Cabin is Leaking Air

2007-0731shuttle.thumbnail-3.jpg

Here's another little bit of NASA bad news; let's heap it on with

the

rest

. Shuttle workers are trying to track down the source of an air leak on the space shuttle Endeavour that's above acceptable limits. The problem was first discovered a few days ago, and engineers thought they'd tracked down the faulty nut. But even after tightening that nut, the cabin was still losing pressure.

This is a problem since

Endeavour

is supposed to blast off for the International Space Station at 7:02 pm EDT on August 7th. If they can't trace the leak down quickly, it'll push the mission back in an already crowded launch schedule.

If everything does go smoothly, Endeavour's STS-118 mission will deliver cargo, spare parts and a new truss segment to the International Space Station.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today, founding the website in March 1999. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast.