NASA on Monday set a June 17 launch date for the shuttle Endeavour, after its scheduled mission last week to the International Space Station had to be postponed because of a hydrogen gas leak, the US space agency said.
"NASA managers have scheduled the next launch attempt of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission for 5:40 am EDT (0940 GMT) on Wednesday, June 17. The launch will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida," the US space agency said in a statement.
The leak in one of Endeavour's venting systems was detected early Saturday just hours before the shuttle's planned launch. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.
Endeavour's new target blast-off date caused a scheduling conflict, since NASA had planned liftoff on the same day for the Lunar crater observation and sensing satellite (LRO/LCROSS), which now has been pushed back one day, to June 18.
LRO is scheduled for a one-year exploration mission at an orbit of about 31 miles, or 50 kilometers, the closest any spacecraft has orbited the moon in preparation for future lunar travel.
The partner mission LCROSS meanwhile, will search for water ice on the moon.
Shuttle launch director Pete Nickolenko said Sunday the root cause of the leak in Endeavour's external fuel tank had not yet been determined, but said the team was confident of the integrity of the repair.
When Endeavour lifts off Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it will be the 32nd mission to the ISS, which orbits 350 kilometers (220 miles) above Earth, and the last of three missions to assemble the Japanese Kibo laboratory aboard the orbiting space station.
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