The space shuttle Endeavor will not be launched until May 16

Technicians at the Kennedy Space Center continue to work on a problem with a heating circuit related to Endeavour's hydraulic system that caused the launch to be delayed

NASA managers are now targeting the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor for mission STS-134, no earlier than Monday, May 16. After a meeting held on Friday, they also decided to extend the mission from 14 to 16 days. If indeed the launch takes place on May 16, it will take place at 08:56 EST (15:56 Israel time).

Technicians at the Kennedy Space Center continue to work on a problem with a heating circuit related to Endeavour's hydraulic system that caused the launch to be delayed. The technicians determined that the fault was within the load control system at the rear of the spacecraft, and it is possible that it is related to the electrical wiring.

Although the root cause of the malfunction in the switching box was not discovered, the technicians are replacing hardware that might have caused the problem. The failed box was replaced on Wednesday and testing of the shuttle's nine systems powered by this box is underway.

Over the weekend, the technicians installed and tested new wiring that bypasses the suspicious electrical wiring connecting the switch box and the heaters. They will also run the heaters for 30 minutes to make sure they are working properly and retest the rest of the switch box driven systems.

The three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) that provide hydraulic power to drive the spacecraft during takeoff or landing, power that prevents the fuel from freezing when the shuttle is in space. The launch and flight criteria require that all APU and heating circuits be operational at launch. On Endeavor's first launch attempt, one of the two heaters in APU #1 did not work. The engineers confirmed that the circuit in the original switch box that directed the electrical power to the heaters had shorted out.