June 13, 2009 -- A potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak cropped up during the fueling of space shuttle Endeavour on Saturday and forced NASA to postpone the launch by at least four days.
It was almost identical to a leak that stalled another flight back in March and threatened to bump Endeavour's space station construction mission all the way into July.
NASA halted the countdown shortly after midnight, less than seven hours before Endeavour was due to blast off. The seven astronauts had yet to suit up.
Launch director Mike Leinbach said the leak, located at a vent line hookup on the fuel tank, was significant. Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile and can burn in large enough quantities, he noted.
"There's no way we could have continued," Leinbach said at a hastily called news conference. "It's a commodity you just don't mess with."
The hydrogen gas leak is similar to one that NASA faced while trying to launch Discovery three months ago. That flight was delayed four days because of the problem and shortened as well. Atlantis, however, encountered no such trouble during its countdown in May for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
It was almost identical to a leak that stalled another flight back in March and threatened to bump Endeavour's space station construction mission all the way into July.
NASA halted the countdown shortly after midnight, less than seven hours before Endeavour was due to blast off. The seven astronauts had yet to suit up.
Launch director Mike Leinbach said the leak, located at a vent line hookup on the fuel tank, was significant. Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile and can burn in large enough quantities, he noted.
"There's no way we could have continued," Leinbach said at a hastily called news conference. "It's a commodity you just don't mess with."
The hydrogen gas leak is similar to one that NASA faced while trying to launch Discovery three months ago. That flight was delayed four days because of the problem and shortened as well. Atlantis, however, encountered no such trouble during its countdown in May for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
