If the launch goes ahead, Endeavour will carry into space a seven-person crew, including six Americans and one Canadian - Julie Payette, an electrical and information engineer and the only woman on board. -- PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON - Nasa officials are hoping that the third time is the charm for the space shuttle Endeavour, which is due to launch on Saturday on a mission to the International Space Station.
Two previous launch attempts were scuppered by potentially hazardous hydrogen leaks, but Nasa said tests to the Endeavour following repairs to an external fuel tank proved problem-free.
'The test was very successful. We did not have any leaks, any issue or any anomaly,' said Nasa test director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson at a press conference on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Steve Payne, also a test director at the space agency, said the shuttle launch was on track for July 11 at 2339 GMT from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Nasa said a misaligned plate linking a hydrogen gas vent line with the external fuel tank had caused last month's leaks.
In addition to time pressures created by two cancelled launch attempts, the race is on to finish construction at the ISS before September 2010, when Nasa is due to retire its shuttle program and start focusing on new space vehicles.
But ahead of the scheduled launch on Saturday, there were questions about weather conditions. 'We expect that we will see some afternoon thunderstorms in the area around launch time,' said shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters.
If the launch goes ahead, Endeavour will carry into space a seven-person crew, including six Americans and one Canadian - Julie Payette, an electrical and information engineer and the only woman on board.
Endeavour is set to conduct a 16-day voyage to install a platform on the ISS that will allow astronauts to conduct experiments in the vacuum of space, 350km above Earth's surface.
The astronauts will also undertake other repair and replacement work, including installing six new batteries in the ISS. The mission, which will require two astronauts to conduct five space walks totaling 32.5 hours, is the last of three trips being undertaken to assemble the Japanese Kibo laboratory aboard the orbiting space station. -- AP
