Canadian astronaut Dave Williams trains before launching towards the ISS aboard shuttle Endeavour (Source: NASA)
Launch of shuttle Endeavour pushed back 24 hours; India has big plans for the future; a Russian cargo ship will deliver more supplies to the ISS
Although NASA reported shuttle Endeavour no longer has any air leaks in its cabin, the U.S. space agency decided to delay the shuttle's launch 24 hours. Engineers discovered the leaky valve in Endeavour's crew cabin during routine inspection checks - it was replaced with a valve borrowed from shuttle Atlantis. The delay will allow engineers an additional day to conduct more inspections before the shuttle lifts off.
Originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Aug. 7, it will now launch at 6:36 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Aug. 8. The Endeavour crew will be responsible for construction and repairs aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
India will be able to put a man in space and begin a lunar mission in the next 15 or so years, according to Madhavan Nair, a space scientist and the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The ISRO's first mission is to send its Chandrayaan-I satellite to the Earth's moon in 2008, hoping it will be able to conduct several experiments. The ISRO hopes the Chandrayaan-I will launch aboard a PSLV rocket.
The next mission will be to send an astronaut into orbit by 2015 and embarking on a manned mission by 2020 - both of which are large goals for a nation with a developing space nation.
An unmanned Russian Progress M-61 cargo ship will dock with the ISS sometime this evening, according to Russian mission control. The craft lifted off Thursday morning from a launch pad in Kazakhstan and should be able to dock automatically with the ISS, though the ISS crew will be on stand by in case anything should go wrong. The ship carries 2.5 tons of supplies such as food, water, computer and scientific equipment - and contains non-vital items like books and movies.
"Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" -- Homer Simpson
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