NASA postponed the last-minute shuttle launch

The US space agency's Endeavor plan to launch the spacecraft was canceled only a few hours before the ship took off from Earth, due to a hydrogen gas leak.

Endeavor was delayed when it was ready on the platform.Photo: Getty Images.

The incident was discovered when Endeavor was being fueled at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with seven crew members preparing to wear astronauts. This ship has a mission to carry equipment for experiments and exchange new employees on the ISS International Space Station.

Flight control experts immediately met to reassign the ship launch schedule. The leaked hydrogen gas was detected at the unit attached to the external fuel tank of Endeavor. This is a similar incident that caused another shuttle, Discovery, to postpone its launch in March.

As planned, Endeavor will take 3 days to reach the ISS station, where 6 astronauts are working. With the crew of 7 people on board, when connecting to the ISS station, this space base will set a record of 'population' when there are 13 people, including 7 US citizens and 2 Russian citizens at the same time , 2 Canada, 1 Japan and 1 from Europe.

The Endeavor is expected to carry the last parts of Japan's Kibo laboratory on the ISS station. The mission of the ship will have 5 space walks to install these new parts for the laboratory. Upon completion of the laboratory will allow testing of materials in the harsh environment of space.

The Kibo laboratory of the Japanese space agency on ISS has a total value of $ 1 billion, weighs 15 tons, is about the same size as a bus. This is also the room with the largest area on the station, specializing in research on materials science and medical biologicals. Previously on the station there were two independent laboratories, Europe's Destiny of America and Columbus.

In addition, Endeavor astronauts installed other equipment for the outer part of the ISS such as battery packs and a spare antenna from space to earth. The ship also took astronaut Tim Kopra to work at the ISS station, replacing the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata who returned to work on Earth after more than 3 months.

Upon departure, Endeavor will be the 127th flight of the shuttle and the 29th flight to the ISS. It is planned that there will be seven additional space shuttle flights for the US shuttle to the ISS, before the NASA fleet retires in 2010.