Atlantis delayed the flight until early next year

After two postponements of the Atlantis shuttle flight from December 6 due to a problem with the fuel tank, NASA decided to remove the earliest shuttle launch on January 2, 2008.

The shuttle is expected to take seven astronauts (5 Americans, 1 French and 1 German) with the European Columbus Space Laboratory to the ISS International Space Station.

Two of the four sensors of the hydrogen fuel tank on the shuttle had signs of inactivity when the shuttle was about to be launched on December 6. Another sensor failed when the fuel tank was filled during the second launch on December 9.

(Photo: AFP) Since space shuttle Atlantis delayed the flight for nearly a month, engineer Dan Tani is currently on the ISS Station to stay in orbit for another month. He should have been replaced by French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who was in charge of installing the Colombus laboratory.

According to space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale, NASA will conduct a series of tests and repair the engines to determine the cause of the problem.

NASA does not want to repeat the mistakes that caused two previous disasters. In 2003, a technical failure caused the shuttle Columbia to explode during a return flight to Earth, killing seven astronauts. Seventeen years ago, the space shuttle Challenger was exploded while taking off, killing seven crew members.

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