As managers prepare their External Tank findings for the Agency Flight Readiness Review (FRR), engineers out at Pad 39A have through what is being described as a significant issue related to the Forward Power Control Assembly (FPCA) on Discovery. The troubleshooting took place through the weekend, with a 24 hour hit to the processing flow.
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As STS-128 tracks an August 24 launch date – pending final clearance of the Ice Frost Ramp foam liberation concern – the Space Shuttle Program Flight Readiness Review (SSP FRR) has conducted thorough review of Discovery’s mission/payload content and launch opportunities.
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The LO2 Ice Frost Ramps (IFRs) will be modified to mitigate against foam liberation – pending design verification – from ET-133 onwards. However, ET-132 has gained the opening round of “rationale for acceptance” via the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Flight Readiness Review (FRR), which will be verified by a Safety Panel and up for approval [...]
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International Launch Services (ILS) have launched the AsiaSat 5 telecommunications satellite via their veteran Proton-M launch vehicle and Breeze-M upper stage. Lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 23:47 Moscow time.
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The Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Flight Readiness Review (FRR) heads into a two day meeting on Tuesday, with the focus on the status of ET-132′s Ice Frost Ramps (IFRs). STS-128 may have to rollback for modifications to the ramps – if managers fail to agree on risk acceptance. Interestingly, documentation on the ramp that has [...]
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With the key decision points for the Augustine Commission fast approaching, one of the favorite alternatives to the Ares vehicles – the SD HLLV (Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle – or HLV for short) – has made great strides towards becoming a viable option for replacing the Space Shuttle.
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Meetings are taking place through Friday to work on risk acceptance for two LO2 Ice Frost Ramps (IFRs) on Discovery’s External Tank (ET-132), following a full review of STS-127′s LO2 IFR liberation event during launch. If managers call for foam loss mitigation on the ramps, the STS-128 stack will rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building [...]
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With Discovery deep in preparations for her STS-128 mission, shuttle managers are already mapping out the processing flow for her STS-131 flight – allowing for a smooth transition between the conclusion of STS-128 and her flow towards the 2010 mission. As with all flows, numerous modifications will be carried out on the veteran orbiter, as [...]
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Work has started on replacing the Check Valve Filter Assembly (CVFA) and associated hardware on Discovery’s left hand Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), as engineers continue to evaluation potential schedule impacts to STS-128′s pad flow. Meanwhile, shuttle manager John Shannon has told the workforce to keep their focus on the missions, pre-empting a forward plan for [...]
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Shuttle managers have baselined STS-133 – by way of the Flight Definition Requirements Document (FDRD) mission update – into a 10+1+2 day mission, involving a crew of just five, a Flight Day 4 docking and just one EVA. The move was made to allow for additional mass to be carried by the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module [...]
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With around three weeks until the launch of STS-128, Discovery has finally arrived at Pad 39A, following a dramatic 10 hour-plus rollout on Tuesday. Once at the pad, engineers will incorporate around a week’s worth of changeouts associated with the left Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), following issues with a Check Valve Filter Assembly (CVFA) – [...]
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Although no ill effects were suffered by Endeavour, the problems with her External Tank (ET-131) – both prior and during last month’s launch – called for investigations into the downstream tanks, the latest of which is due to fly with Discovery later this month. Thanks to those evaluations, additional confidence has been gained ahead of [...]
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