CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- NASA canceled plans to launch shuttle Endeavour on an International Space Station assembly and crew exchange mission early Monday due to an oxygen leak aboard the orbiter.
The crew was just beginning to settle inside the spaceship Sunday evening for a planned 12:58 a.m. ET blastoff, when managers decided the leak needed additional study. The leak is in a system the feeds oxygen into the crew cabin as well as the astronauts' helmets during launch and landing.
"Tonight's not our night," NASA test director Steve Altemus told Endeavour commander Jim Wetherbee. "I know you guys are going to be disappointed, but we want to give you a healthy vehicle before we cut you loose from the Cape here."
"Absolutely, you guys are doing great. Thank you," replied Wetherbee.
Finding and fixing the leak will take at least a week, with launch tentatively retargeted for Nov. 18, said shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore.
"It's like this leak just appeared out of the blue," said Dittemore. "We want to understand the situation better ... We don't want to just go and launch in the blind."
As soon as the shuttle's propellants are pumped out, workers plan to get inside Endeavour's payload bay to hunt the source of the leak. Dittemore said he does not expect workers to have to remove the 14-ton station truss segment sitting in the cargo bay.
Endeavour is scheduled to ferry a new three-member crew to the station to take over operations until March. During a planned weeklong stay at the station, the shuttle astronauts also plan to install the new truss segment outside the orbiting complex.
