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Pat Duggins
Pat Duggins
Senior News Analyst
pduggins@wmfe.org


June 15, 2009-- Two space missions, each with important goals to achieve, a time crunch for launch, and each wants to go on Wednesday.

Is King Solomon in the house?

Space Shuttle Endeavour carries the last part of Japan's Kibo lab on the International Space Station. If it doesn't launch by Saturday, it will be delayed until July because of a period of intense sunlight hitting the station--NASA calls it a "Beta Angle Cut Out."

An Atlas rocket carries the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on a mission to the Moon. If it doesn't go this week, it will take another two weeks for the Earth and Moon to line correctly, and there are other Atlas customers waiting to use the pad.

That, in a nut shell, is the quandary before acting NASA Administrator Chris Scolese and Science Chief Doug Cook. They'll hash out which flight will go on Wednesday later today.

UPDATE: NASA chose to launch Endeavour first. See you "early" on Wednesday for launch coverage around 5:40 am.

REMEMBER: I'll be "tweeting from Kennedy Space Center" at http://twitter.com/PatDuggins

 

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