spacetoday.net: NASA clears shuttle launch pending hose fix

Posted: Thu, Jan 31, 2008, 6:16 AM ET (1116 GMT)

NASA shuttle managers gave the go-ahead to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on February 7 pending the resolution of a problem discovered this week with a radiator hose on the orbiter. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off on the STS-122 mission at 2:45 pm EST (1945 GMT) February 7. That launch, though, depends on whether engineers can resolve a problem with a kinked radiator hose discovered in the shuttle's payload bay on Tuesday. The hose is one of hour that carries coolant to radiators; engineers are checking if the kink could cause coolant to leak out, disabling the radiator and forcing the shuttle crew to switch to a backup system. A final decision on whether the shuttle can launch on the 7th is planned by Saturday. The primary purpose of the STS-122 mission is to deliver the European laboratory module Columbus to the ISS. The launch was scheduled for early December but postponed after problems with fuel sensors on the shuttle's external tank scrubbed two launch attempts.