Tranquility Hose Problem Could Delay Shuttle Launch

Tranquility Hose Problem Could Delay Shuttle Launch

The planned February 7 launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on its STS-130 mission may slip due to a problem with a hose in the Tranquility module that the shuttle is taking up to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA reported that “a high-pressure ammonia jumper hose assembly failed during a prelaunch test Thursday.” Four such hoses are to be connected to the ISS cooling system once the module is in orbit. NASA says that engineers are analyzing the situation and will know in “several days” whether the launch date will be affected.

Tranquility — formerly known as “Node 3” — will provide additional living space for the crew. It is perhaps best known for the naming contest NASA held for it. Comedian Stephen Colbert rallied his fans to send in his name and he won, but NASA decided to name it Tranquillity instead. As a consolation prize, the agency named a treadmill after Colbert and sent astronaut Sunita Williams to deliver the news on Colbert’s Comedy Central program, Colbert Nation. The Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) was installed aboard the ISS last year.

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