NASA: No Shuttle Launch Until Early Next Week
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) – The next-to-last space shuttle launch is off for at least another week. NASA managers now say Endeavour won't launch before Tuesday May 10th and that's only if technicians successfully replace and test a bad fuse box.
The bad fuse box scuttled Friday's launch attempt.
The high-profile voyage of Endeavour will be the next-to-last shuttle flight and the final flight for Endeavour.
NASA officials have stressed repeatedly that they will not ease up on any launch rules, even as the shuttle program winds down. Extra precautions were put in place after the 1986 Challenger launch accident and the 2003 Columbia disaster. A total of 14 astronauts died in those two catastrophes.
The delay, if it lasts much longer, could end up having a domino effect on the final shuttle mission. Atlantis is scheduled to blast off June 28 to close down the program. For now, anyway, that date is still safe.
Endeavour's commander, Mark Kelly, is married to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The wounded Arizona congresswoman traveled to Kennedy Space Center last week but returned to a Houston rehab hospital when the launch was called off. A spokesman says she'll return for the next try.
Once NASA's shuttles are done flying, they will be on display in Florida, California and the Washington, D.C. area. NASA will continue to rely on rides to the International Space Station in Russian Soyuz capsules while new spacecraft are developed by private companies.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
