NASA Still Aims for February Shuttle Launch Despite Broken Hoses

[mickw]

NASA is still hoping to launch the shuttle Endeavour in early February as engineers scramble to repair broken hoses on the new space station module set to ride aboard the orbiter.

Endeavour is slated to launch the new Tranquility module to the International Space Station on Sunday, Feb. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. But two of the module's four ammonia coolant hoses have failed standard pre-launch checks, prompting engineers to come up with a repair plan while others try to build new hoses from scratch, station managers said Monday.

"Folks are working really hard to get the hoses checked out, completed, certified [and] tested," said Pete Hasbrook, NASA manager for the Expedition 22 mission aboard the space station. "We are still working toward the Feb. 7 launch date."

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