NASA Shuttle Endeavour: Aims for February Launch despite Broken Hoses

NASA Still Aims for February Shuttle Launch Despite Broken Hoses

NASA is still hoping to launch the shuttle Endeavour in early February as engineers scramble to repair broken hoses on the new space station module set to ride aboard the orbiter.

Endeavour is slated to launch the new Tranquility module to the International Space Station on Sunday, Feb. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. But two of the module's four ammonia coolant hoses have failed standard pre-launch checks, prompting engineers to come up with a repair plan while others try to build new hoses from scratch, station managers said Monday.

"Folks are working really hard to get the hoses checked out, completed, certified [and] tested," said Pete Hasbrook, NASA manager for the Expedition 22 mission aboard the space station. "We are still working toward the Feb. 7 launch date."

Broken hoses

The new Tranquility module, like other space station rooms, uses liquid ammonia to keep its computers and other electronic equipment cool in space. The coolant hoses are routed on the exterior of the space station and must function at a pressure of 3,000 psi to keep the ammonia supply liquid and moving, Hasbrook said.

But the two broken coolant hoses on Tranquility failed at a pressure of only 1,500 psi or so, apparently due to a defect in the exterior braided-metal sheath covering the flexible hose, Hasbrook said. The metal braids began separating from the hose connector during the test, he added.