Just under an hour ago, as I was driving away from work to go get packed for my trip, I was listening to CNN on the XM Radio and got this news:
STS-114 Shuttle Report | Mission Status Center
1732 GMT (1:32 p.m. EDT)
SCRUB! Today’s launch has been scrubbed for today due to a problem with the ECO engine cut-off fuel sensors. A problem with these sensors was noted during the fueling tests on Discovery earlier this spring.
From the sounds of it, looks like this will be more than a one day delay too, so I should be back before they try again. (Although they are not going to make an official annoucement for a couple more hours.) Everybody seems to be thinking this is not a short turn around event though. They have until the end of July for this launch window. After that, they have to wait until September.
Oh, and one more thing, someone please get Kira Phillips off the TV. I don’t usually watch CNN in the daytime since I am at work and all, so I don’t know how she usually is, but she has been asking some of the stupidist questions I have ever heard. Let Miles O’Brian handle this by himself. He isn’t the best in the world, but at least he sounds like he knows what he is talking about. (To be fair to Kira, she did say this was not “her area” at one point, but still…)