NASA looks to launch shuttle Endeavour in July

After a gaseous hydrogen leak today forced NASA to scrub the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour for the second time, the space agency said it is now looking to try again in July.

Endeavour and its seven-person crew was set to launch at 5:40 a.m. EDT today but the launch was aborted at 1:55 a.m. when the leak was detected at the shuttle's Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Today's leak was located in the same area as the one that forced NASA to cancel Endeavour's scheduled June 13 launch.

"We're going to step back and figure out what the problem is and go fix it," said Deputy Space Shuttle Program Manager LeRoy Cain during a briefing today. "Once we get it fixed and we're confident that we have a solution that's going to work and allow us to go fly safely, then we'll proceed forward."

To make sure its engineers have time to figure out and fix the problem, NASA pushed the next scheduled launch date back to July 11.

Astronaut Mark Polansky has been Twittering about his role in the Endeavour crew. About 2:30 a.m. EDT today he wrote, "I'm sure you all know that we postponed again It's a reminder that spaceflight is NOT routine." And then late this morning, he tweeted that the crew will be getting back into a mission training schedule on Monday.

Endeavour's crew is slated to conduct a 16-day mission to expand the Japanese laboratory housed on the International Space Station. NASA has called the operation one of its most technical missions yet - one that will call on the power of three separate robots.

The highly complex mission will include five spacewalks and the use of three robotic arms - two robots working together and one that will "walk" across the outside of the space station.

NASA is still set to launch two lunar satellites - the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite - late on Thursday afternoon. The satellites are scheduled to lift off together aboard an Atlas V rocket between 5 p.m. and 5:32 p.m.

Both satellites will be focused on sending information back to Earth to help NASA scientists determine safe landing sites and resources for a human return to the moon.

Businessman indicted on telecom bribery charges

A South Korean businessman has been indicted in a U.S. court for his alleged role in a bribery conspiracy related to a US$206 million telecommunications contract with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Gi-Hwan Jeong, age 44, was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas with conspiracy, honest services wire fraud and bribery, the DOJ said in a news release. 

Between 2001 and 2006 Jeong conspired with two AAFES officials and others to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud when he agreed to make payments to the officials in the form of cash, travel and entertainment expenses in exchange for their aid in securing and maintaining a $206 million telecommunications contract for Jeong's company, Samsung Rental, the DOJ alleged.

AAFES provides goods and services worth billions of dollars to U.S. military members and their families around the world.

On April 21, Henry Lee Holloway, identified as a recipient of bribes in Jeong's superseding indictment, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia for his role in the conspiracy and for not reporting the bribes he admitted he accepted on his income tax returns.  Holloway, of Hamilton, Georgia, worked as an AAFES general store manager at the Central Exchange in South Korea from 2003 through 2007.

Before Jeong's alleged payments, Holloway attempted to terminate the contract between AAFES and Samsung Rental. Holloway had argued that Samsung Rental was not fulfilling the contract, the DOJ said. After the payments, Holloway used his influence to support and expand the contractual relationship, the DOJ said.

Jeong was previously indicted on Dec. 17 solely on bribery charges and was arrested in Dallas on Nov. 19 on a criminal complaint. Jeong's trial is scheduled to begin June 24.