NASA launched Endeavor to the end of April

The US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) said on April 4 that it would postpone the launch of the Endeavor until the end of this month to avoid a collision with a Russian device that also docked at the International Space Station (ISS). .

In a statement, NASA said the launch time would be fixed at 3:47 pm local time (April 19, 2011 GMT) on April 29 .

The Russian Progress ship is expected to land on April 27 and will arrive in ISS on April 29. Therefore, NASA must adjust the launch time compared to the original scheduled date of April 19.

Endeavor ship.

The Endeavor was delivered to the launch pad on March 10, coinciding with the day the Discovery spacecraft completed its final mission to return to Earth. On March 25, NASA technicians began loading the cargo onto Endeavor so that the ship could move to ISS.

Over the weekend, NASA engineers also conducted detailed inspections of the foam shell to protect the outer fuel tank of Endeavor after several major storms affected the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the middle of the week. NASA officials said that only "very small damage" was found and had no effect on the ship.

On the same day, NASA astronaut and engineer on Expedition flight 27 Ron Garan along with Russian astronauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko will also fly from Baikonur space airport in Kazakhstan. to ISS.

These astronauts will join three other members of the ISS crew and will stay in the ISS until September this year.