Fuel Leak Delays Shuttle Again

By Nancy Atkinson - June 17, 2009 at 4:28 AM UTC | Space Exploration

NASA was forced to postpone the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Wednesday for the second time after a problem with a hydrogen gas leak surfaced again while the ship was being fueled for flight. An identical problem delayed a launch attempt on Saturday. Technicians had replaced seals in a hydrogen vent line in hopes of fixing the leak. The next opportunity to launch Endeavour will be on July 11 because of because of temperature constraints related to the International Space Station's orbit.

"We're going to step back and figure out what the problem is and go fix it," said deputy shuttle program manager LeRoy Cain. "Obviously we have something here we didn't understand as well as we thought we may have."

Next up: Thursday June 18's launch attempt for LRO/LCROSS at 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m. or 5:32 p.m. EDT. (9:12. 9:22 or 9:32 GMT)

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com