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Shuttle fueling begins for Monday launch try BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: July 13, 2009 
Running a month behind scheduled because of hydrogen leaks, launch pad lightning strikes and stormy weather, NASA managers have cleared the shuttle Endeavour for a fifth launch attempt today to kick off a 16-day space station construction mission. Forecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of another delay due to expected afternoon storms. Hoping for the best, engineers began pumping liquid oxygen and hydrogen rocket fuel to the shuttle's external tank at 9:33 a.m. The fueling procedure should be complete by around 12:33 p.m., a few minutes after the start of a planned two-and-a-half-hour hold at the T-minus three-hour mark. NASA television coverage is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and the countdown will resume at 2:56 p.m. If all goes well, commander Mark Polansky, pilot Douglas Hurley, Canadian flight engineer Julie Payette, David Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Thomas Marshburn and space station flight engineer Timothy Kopra will begin strapping in around 3:30 p.m. for a launch attempt at 6:51:24 p.m. "While we all hope that today's the day, we have a saying that you never know for sure until the solid rockets light off," Polansky said in a Twitter posting early today.
The only way to re-attach or replace the debonded cover is to move a protective gantry back in place around the shuttle, work that could trigger a 24-hour launch delay. Overnight, engineers decided to leave the cover as is. As it now stands, NASA must get Endeavour off the pad by Tuesday or the flight will be delayed until July 27 to make way for a high-priority Russian Progress resupply mission scheduled for launch July 24. The Progress can "loiter" in orbit for five days, but it must dock by July 29. And that means Endeavour must take off by Tuesday to complete a full-duration five-spacewalk mission in time to undock by July 27, making way for the Progress. Depending on how today's launch attempt play out, the Russians might agree to give NASA additional time, but that likely would require space station managers to reduce mission content. The forecast calls for another 60 percent chance of bad weather Tuesday and a 40 percent chance Wednesday. Here is the remainder of today's countdown (in EDT; best viewed with fixed-width font): EDT...........EVENT Monday, July 13 09:26 AM......Resume countdown (T-minus 6 hours) 09:33 AM......LO2, LH2 transfer line chilldown 09:43 AM......Main propulsion system chill down 09:43 AM......LH2 slow fill 10:13 AM......LO2 slow fill 10:18 AM......Hydrogen ECO sensors go wet 10:23 AM......LO2 fast fill 10:26 AM......Crew medical checks 10:33 AM......LH2 fast fill 12:26 PM......Begin 2-hour 30-minute built-in hold (T-minus 3 hours) 12:33 PM......LH2 replenish 12:33 PM......LO2 replenish 12:33 PM......Closeout crew to white room 12:33 PM......External tank in stable replenish mode 12:41 PM......Astronaut support personnel comm checks 01:11 PM......Pre-ingress switch reconfig 01:30 PM......NASA TV coverage begins 02:29 PM......Final crew weather briefing 02:39 PM......Crew suit up begins 02:56 PM......Resume countdown (T-minus 3 hours) 03:01 PM......Crew departs O&C building 03:31 PM......Crew ingress 04:21 PM......Astronaut comm checks 04:46 PM......Hatch closure 05:16 PM......White room closeout 05:36 PM......Begin 10-minute built-in hold (T-minus 20m) 05:46 PM......NASA test director countdown briefing 05:46 PM......Resume countdown (T-minus 20m) 05:47 PM......Backup flight computer to OPS 1 05:51 PM......KSC area clear to launch 05:57 PM......Begin final built-in hold (T-minus 9m) 06:27 PM......NTD launch status verification 06:42:24 PM...Resume countdown (T-minus 9m) 06:43:54 PM...Orbiter access arm retraction 06:46:24 PM...Launch window opens 06:46:24 PM...Hydraulic power system (APU) start 06:46:29 PM...Terminate LO2 replenish 06:47:24 PM...Purge sequence 4 hydraulic test 06:47:24 PM...IMUs to inertial 06:47:29 PM...Aerosurface steering profile 06:47:54 PM...Main engine steering test 06:48:29 PM...LO2 tank pressurization 06:48:34 PM...GOX vent arm retraction 06:48:49 PM...Fuel cells to internal reactants 06:48:54 PM...Clear caution-and-warning memory 06:49:24 PM...Crew closes visors 06:49:27 PM...LH2 tank pressurization 06:50:34 PM...Orbiter to internal power 06:50:53 PM...Shuttle computers take control of countdown 06:51:03 PM...SRB steering test 06:51:17 PM...Main engine start (T-6.6 seconds) 06:51:24 PM...SRB ignition (LAUNCH)
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The official embroidered patch for the historic
