While troubleshooting on the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) saw the flight seal removed on Wednesday, engineers have been removing the cracked foam from Discovery’s damaged Thermal Protection System (TPS) area on the flange between the intertank and LOX tank. Two cracks has been found on the structural stringer, which is undergoing an immediate investigation.
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As access platforms are set up for engineers to begin the removal of the hardware associated with the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), a large effort to build a repair plan – one which can be conducted at Pad 39A – is being developed for the large crack (and several other smaller cracks) that were found on Discovery’s [...]
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As engineers prepare to take a close look at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) at the center of STS-133′s scrub on Friday, a pool of knowledge will be fully utilized in the drive towards finding a root cause. That knowledge comes via a large amount of documentation gained through testing and troubleshooting, after the [...]
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The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch vehicle has finally launched at the fourth attempt, lofting COSMO-4 - the fourth and last COSMO-SkyMed radar imaging satellite – into orbit for the Italian government. The vehicle lifted-off at 7:20pm PDT from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. The mission marks the 350th launch of [...]
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Discovery was making her first real attempt to launch on Friday, as the loading of her External Tank (ET-137) picked up following approval by the Mission Management Team (MMT). Tanking had been nominal until a leak was detected on the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) – causing managers to carry out testing prior to detanking [...]
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China’s Chang Zheng-4C (Long March 4C) launch vehicle has launched the FY-3 Feng Yun-3B meteorological satellite, the second of the experimental series. The launch took place at 18:37 UTC on Thursday (2:37am local time on Friday), lifting off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center – as China increases its record year to 13 launches. Satellite [...]
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The Mission Management Team (MMT) have concluded their evalations on Thursday morning by deciding to delay for 24 hours, due to unacceptable weather conditions. The decision came just prior to coming out of the hold for the loading of Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137).
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The Mission Management Team (MMT) evaluations into the anomalies on the redundant Main Engine Controller (MEC) on SSME-3 have concluded with the approval for the required flight rationale, clearing Discovery to press ahead with Thursday’s launch attempt. Discovery’s next challenge is out of her control, with an 80 percent chance of unacceptable weather at T-0.
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Discovery has been given another hurdle to negotiate ahead of her opening launch attempt, after an electrical issue was noted on the redundant Main Engine Controller (MEC) on SSME-3. The original problem had been classed as cleared, following cycling and troubleshooting. However, a Mission Management Team (MMT) meeting later on Tuesday decided to scrub for [...]
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Discovery is enjoying an issue-free S0007 (Launch Countdown), as engineers complete the loading of the orbiter’s Power Reactant Storage and Distribution (PRSD) system. The veteran orbiter remains on track for an opening launch attempt on Wednesday, ahead of the ride uphill – to be aided by her three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs), which received [...]
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