日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

   

Shuttle Atlantis launch scrubbed a 2nd time

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-09 21:58

Cape Canaveral - NASA called off Sunday's planned launch of the space shuttle Atlantis after a gauge in a fuel tank failed for the second time in four days.


Space Shuttle Atlantis is seen at pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., December 8 2007. NASA managers are meeting to determine if they will launch Atlantis Sunday with the malfunctioning sensors inside the external tank. [Agencies]

It was not immediately clear when NASA might try again to send Atlantis to the international space station. Senior managers planned to meet later Sunday to decide on a course of action.

The problem with the fuel gauge resurfaced just before sunrise, about an hour after the launch team began filling Atlantis' tank for an afternoon liftoff.

Shuttle managers had said they would halt the countdown and call everything off if any of the four hydrogen fuel gauges acted up. Three failed during Thursday's launch attempt; no one knows why.

"This could all be good news because it may give us some data points that we did not have as to what may be behind this problem," said NASA spokesman George Diller.

"So essentially our launch attempt this morning has turned into a tanking test," he added.

If the shuttle isn't flying by Thursday or possibly Friday, it will have to wait until the beginning of January to deliver a new laboratory to the space station -- assuming the fuel gauge problem can be fixed by then.

Despite objections from some engineers, NASA tightened up its launch rules for Sunday's attempt in hopes of getting Atlantis off the ground by the week's end.

Not only did all four of Atlantis' fuel gauges have to work on Sunday -- until now, only three good gauges were required -- a new instrumentation system for monitoring these gauges also had to check out. NASA also shrank its launch window from five minutes to a single minute for added safety.

The troublesome gauges, called engine cutoff sensors, are part of a backup system to prevent the shuttle's main engines from shutting down too late and running without fuel, a potentially catastrophic situation. They have been a source of sporadic trouble ever since flights resumed in 2005 following the Columbia tragedy.

Two groups of NASA engineers recommended that the flight be postponed and the fuel gauge system tested, to figure out what might be going on. But they did not oppose a Sunday launch attempt when it came time for the final vote.

Shuttle commander Stephen Frick was deeply involved with the decisions that were made, officials said.

Both the astronauts and flight controllers would have an added burden if multiple fuel sensors were to fail once the shuttle lifted off and a leak or some other serious trouble cropped up during the 8 1/2-minute climb to orbit. They would have to override the system, and hobble to orbit or make an emergency landing.

Frick and his six crewmates -- one of them French, another German -- are set to deliver and install the $2 billion Columbus laboratory at the space station. It will be the second lab added to the orbiting outpost and Europe's entree to daily, round-the-clock scientific operations with astronauts in space.



Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 17c国产精品一区二区 | 啪啪大秀视频免费观看 | 国产成人精品一区二区三区四区 | 午夜影视av | 欧美特黄一级 | 欧美精品在线一区二区三区 | 色老二导航 | 99久久99久久精品国产片果冻 | 手机在线一区 | 日韩在线三区 | 波多野结衣家庭教师在线观看 | 成人久久网站 | 自拍偷拍亚洲视频 | 国产激情视频在线播放 | 懂色av懂色av粉嫩av分享吧 | 黄色三级免费网站 | 亚洲不卡视频在线观看 | 欧美性另类 | 狠狠干av| 亚洲午夜伦理 | 成人午夜视频在线 | 涩涩涩涩色 | 国产一区二区三区免费 | 欧美一级网址 | 久久国语精品 | av在线天天| 成年人的免费视频 | 91电视| 欧美在线视频一区二区三区 | 一级黄色片一级黄色片 | 欧美一级大片免费看 | 久久免费在线观看 | 亚洲欧美在线视频 | 男人综合网 | 午夜精品久久久久久久久 | 神马影院一区二区三区 | 成人精品一二三区 | 久久久久久久久久一区二区三区 | 国产精品suv一区二区 | 日韩在线免费 | 久久久欧洲|