Washington: NASA has retargeted its space shuttle Endeavour`s launch to no earlier than Monday, May 16.
After a meeting, NASA managers also extended the length of Endeavour`s STS-134 mission to the International Space Station from 14 to 16 days. If Endeavour launches on May 16, lift off would be at 8:56 a.m. EDT.
Kennedy technicians are continuing work to resolve an issue in a heater circuit associated with Endeavour`s hydraulic system that resulted in the launch postponement. Technicians determined the failure was inside an aft load control assembly, which is a switchbox in the shuttle`s aft compartment, and possibly its associated electrical wiring.
Although the root cause of the failure in the switchbox has not been found, technicians are replacing hardware that could have caused the problem. The faulty box was changed, and a test of nine shuttle systems powered by the new box is under way.
This weekend, technicians will install and check out new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. They also will run the heaters for up to 30 minutes to verify they are working properly and complete retesting of the other systems powered by the switchbox.
ANI
