SPACE - NASA pushes shuttle launch which was supposed to take European Columbus laboratory into 2008
NASA Sunday postponed its launch of the shuttle Atlantis until early 2008 after technical problems scuppered the planned delivery of a European laboratory to the International Space Station. The launch was scrubbed for a fourth time in the early hours after NASA engineers discovered that one of the sensors on the spacecraft's hydrogen fuel tank had failed during tests, space agency officials said.The Atlantis crew of seven was preparing for an 11-day mission to fly the European Columbus laboratory to the space station, orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth. The crew includes two European astronauts -- Hans Schlegel of Germany and Frenchman Leopold Eyharts.
"We have never had a permanent base in space before and I see that like a first step for Europe in the real spaceflight activities compared to what we had in the past," said Eyharts, who works for the European Space Agency.
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