By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The launch of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS) will go ahead as scheduled Aug 7 and will not be delayed due to sabotage as earlier reported, a NASA expert in Russia said.
The US space agency's Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier had said Thursday that an employee from a NASA subcontractor had deliberately damaged wires in a computer, which was due to be delivered by Endeavour to the $100 billion ISS.
The Moscow-based NASA expert said the damaged computer was intended for use in data transmission from various ISS onboard sensors, such as solar batteries and accelerometers.
He also said the damage would not have posed a threat to the ISS crew's safety, adding that he was certain the equipment would be fixed before the scheduled launch of the space shuttle.
The reported act of sabotage is not the only incident that is tainting NASA's image.
Aviation Week and Space Technology weekly had said that a NASA medical panel had established US astronauts flew while heavily intoxicated on at least two occasions.
The weekly, which obtained the panel's findings, said: "Flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk."
The launch of the NASA STS-118 mission is targeted for Aug 7. It will be the 22nd flight to the ISS and the first flight for Endeavour since 2002.
Endeavour, which has been modernised and equipped with a new system designed to let the shuttle use electrical power from the space station, will deliver a new truss segment, a Spacehab module, and an external stowage platform to the ISS, which is planned to be completed by 2010.
NASA said that during the 11-day mission, the seven-member Endeavour crew would conduct three space walks. An electrical boost from the space station would allow the mission to be extended for three extra days, and an additional space walk added.