Mission

The tanking test of the space shuttle Endeavour's External Tank (ET) was carried out at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on July 1, 2009 (US Time).

The ET was loaded with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to see if the repaired Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) was leak free during the tanking. The GUCP is an interface hardware that attaches a hydrogen gas vent line(*) to the external tank.

Previous two launch attempts of the STS-127 Mission　last month were scrubbed due to significant gas leaks detected at the GUCP in the process of the ET tanking.

NASA's engineers believed that the gas leaks were caused by slight misalignment of the GUCP interface structure. After the second scrub on June 17, the launch team has been working on the repair of the GUCP misalignment.

The fueling test began at 7:52 p.m. July 1. During the next three hours as the ET is loaded with fuel, engineers closely examined the area of the GUCP for signs of a gas leak; they found that the repaired GUCP has no leak problem.

Currently, the launch team is working toward the launch of Endeavour targeted for July 12 at 8:39 a.m.

*The hydrogen gas vent line is used to carry away excessive hydrogen gas, which is evaporated from the loaded liquid hydrogen, from the launch pad.

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)