Endeavour countdown begins
Posted: Wed, May 29, 2002, 9:13 AM ET (1313 GMT)
The countdown towards Thursday's launch of the shuttle Endeavour started early Tuesday with weather posing the greatest chance of delaying the mission. The exact time the countdown started was not released, given NASA's post-September 11 policy of not disclosing exact launch times, but would likely have started late Monday night in order to support a launch of mission STS-111 between 4 and 8 pm EDT (2000 and 0000 GMT) Thursday. An exact launch time will be released late Wednesday. Weather is the major concern for Thursday's launch attempt: forecasts call for a 60 percent chance of unacceptable weather on Thursday, increasing to 70 percent on Friday and Saturday, because of late-day thundershowers. There are no technical concerns, after workers successfully repaired a leaking valve in a cooling unit in the orbiter over the weekend. STS-111 is a crew transfer mission for the station, as Endeavour brings the Expedition Five crew of Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treschev to the station and returns to Earth the Expedition Four crew of Yuri Onufrienko, Daniel Bursch, and Carl Walz, who have been in space nearly six months.
The countdown towards Thursday's launch of the shuttle Endeavour started early Tuesday with weather posing the greatest chance of delaying the mission. The exact time the countdown started was not released, given NASA's post-September 11 policy of not disclosing exact launch times, but would likely have started late Monday night in order to support a launch of mission STS-111 between 4 and 8 pm EDT (2000 and 0000 GMT) Thursday. An exact launch time will be released late Wednesday. Weather is the major concern for Thursday's launch attempt: forecasts call for a 60 percent chance of unacceptable weather on Thursday, increasing to 70 percent on Friday and Saturday, because of late-day thundershowers. There are no technical concerns, after workers successfully repaired a leaking valve in a cooling unit in the orbiter over the weekend. STS-111 is a crew transfer mission for the station, as Endeavour brings the Expedition Five crew of Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treschev to the station and returns to Earth the Expedition Four crew of Yuri Onufrienko, Daniel Bursch, and Carl Walz, who have been in space nearly six months.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, September 28
An endangered wild cat faces a new threat: SpaceX’s expansion in Texas
NBCNews.com — 4:43 am ET (0843 GMT) FAA Clears SpaceX For Starship 14 Flight
Aviation Week — 4:41 am ET (0841 GMT) SpaceX sends Starship into orbit
The Economist — 4:40 am ET (0840 GMT) SpaceX prepares to send Starship rocket to orbit for first time
CNBC — 4:40 am ET (0840 GMT) Orbital Shift: India's space sector undergoing biggest transformation
The Economic Times (India) — 4:38 am ET (0838 GMT) |
