NASA Delays Launch of Atlantis Again

Faulty sensors push back date, possibly to next month
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:36 PM CST
NASA Delays Launch of Atlantis Again
Space shuttle Atlantis sits on the launch pad after its mission was scrubbed last month at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.   (Associated Press)

NASA has again pushed back the launch of the shuttle Atlantis as it wrestles with faulty fuel sensors, Space.com reports. The shuttle will go up Jan. 24 at the earliest, with a more likely launch either Feb. 2 or 7. Atlantis is due to begin an 11-day mission to the International Space Station, provided engineers can fix malfunctioning sensors that first delayed the mission last month.

"Everything has to go exactly right for us to make the 24th," said a flight manager, who expressed confidence that engineers have zeroed in on the problem. If the launch is delayed much longer, it will cause a chain reaction of delays for subsequent missions. (More shuttle stories.)

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