CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With erratic fuel gauges still a possible threat, NASA aimed for a launch of space shuttle Atlantis today after managers signed off on a plan to tighten flight rules and shoot for a slim one-minute window.
Managers believe the extra precautions will keep Atlantis and its seven-man crew as safe as possible if, indeed, the shuttle lifts off with a European lab intended for the international space station.
On Saturday, NASA engineers recommended delaying the launch and doing additional testing to figure out why so many fuel gauges acted up during Thursday’s launch attempt. But in the end, they did not oppose trying for a liftoff, said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.
“We’ll fill up the tank and we’ll see what we get,” Cain said. “If we meet our criteria, we’ll go fly and if we don’t, we’ll scrub and we’ll get a good tanking test and we’ll go forward from there.”
Under the new rules, NASA will proceed with the countdown only if all four of the gauges in Atlantis’ big hydrogen tank are working properly. Two of them failed when the shuttle’s tank was filled for liftoff on Thursday and a third one subsequently acted up.
NASA passed up launch tries on Friday and Saturday because of the perplexing problem, which has plagued the shuttle program off and on for more than two years. After meeting again Saturday, shuttle managers decided to press ahead with a liftoff this afternoon, but only if all the fuel gauges behave.
The fuel gauges — officially known as engine cutoff sensors — are part of a critical backup system for preventing the shuttle’s main engines from running too long during the climb to orbit. If the engines kept running and the fuel tank was empty because of a leak or other unexpected trouble, they could ignite or explode.
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