Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) technicians and engineers are working hard to replace, repair and modify numerous stringers on Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137), as NASA managers negotiate with their European partners on the upcoming ATV-2 mission, with an aim to allow Discovery to track a February 24 No Earlier Than (NET) [...]
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Thursday’s Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) meeting overviewed the status of Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137), with recommendations made to install radius blocks on over 100 stringers. A new launch date will be entered as a Change Request (CR) next week, based on negotiations with the ISS on the ability to achieve either a February 24 [...]
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The root cause of the cracked stringers on STS-133′s External Tank (ET-137) may have been found, following the investigation team’s findings that the material used for the tank’s intertank support beams was found to be “mottled”, when compared to standard material. Meanwhile, the ongoing evaluation into the modification plan for the stringers may slip the [...]
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NASA managers have made a key decision to modify 34 stringers on the LO2 flange area of the tank – following the observation of several cracks around its circumference. The radius block modification is designed to mitigate potential foam liberations from the flange, an incident that has never been seen before via flight history.
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Following a Space Shuttle Program (SSP) meeting on Thursday, a decision on carrying out modifications to STS-133′s External Tank (ET-137) won’t be made until next week, as engineers inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) carry out repairs to a number of additional cracks, found during Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) scans of the intertank flanges.
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With Discovery now back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a preliminary timeline has listed January 13 as a preliminary target to return to Pad 39A in order to make the opening of the next available launch window, which opens on February 3. NASA managers will meet on December 30 to discuss the forward plan [...]
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Discovery’s return to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) – in order to gain extra data on the health of the stringers on areas of her tank (ET-137) which can’t be scanned out at the Pad – was completed early on Wednesday. Efforts to return Discovery to the VAB comes just days after a successful Tanking [...]
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Engineers have gathering detailed data on the thermal and stress environments of the External Tank’s intertank stringers at the LOX flange and LH2 flange areas, NASA managers completed fueling Discovery’s External Tank with nearly 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, with a smooth Tanking Test is culminating in a GLS (Ground Launch Sequencer) [...]
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Pending acceptable weather conditions on Friday, all systems are go for ET-137′s Tanking Test – a key milestone in the effort to gain data on both the health of the tank and the root cause investigation into four cracks sustained during the previous STS-133 tanking. The November launch attempt was scrubbed due to a leak [...]
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With unacceptable weather at KSC restricting preparations for STS-133′s Tanking Test, managers decided to delay the test until at least Friday. With the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) approving the plan to collect data from ET-137′s stringers, a decision was also taken to roll the stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) next week [...]
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Engineers are pressing forward with work relating to next week’s instrumented Tanking Test – a key milestone in gaining data towards the root cause of the cracks found two of ET-137′s stringers – with Thermal Protection System (TPS) foam already removed from the tank, allowing for the installation of strain gages and thermocouples into two [...]
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The all-powerful Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) met on Thursday to discuss the status of ET-137′s stringer crack root cause, as part of their effort to gain flight rationale for STS-133. Forward options range from conducting a Tanking Test, through to the contingency of rolling back and destacking the vehicle - in order to carry out modifications to [...]
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The main drive to return ET-137 to flight status is continuing this week, with focus being placed on assurances a stringer defect does not result in foam liberations during ascent, with new documentation showing even small foam losses from the flange area has the ability to cause critical damage to the orbiter. Meanwhile, managerial memos [...]
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Despite the large amount of progress made towards flight rationale – called for in relation to Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137) stringer cracks – teams are heading into another week of deliberations, with a large amount of work ahead of them. Although STS-133 is threatening to move into next year, NASA managers will continue to evaluate [...]
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A Christmas mission may be the cards for Discovery’s final mission, as managers at the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) decided against shooting for the early December launch window opportunities. More work is required on assessing the status of External Tank (ET-137), resulting in a move to the December 17-20 window – although this target [...]
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Progress continues to be made in returning Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137) back to flight status, as nearly all of the physical repairs are completed on what were two cracked stringers on the LOX/Intertank flange area. With flight rationale work building, December 3 and December 5 – the latter including a Tanking Test – are being [...]
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With the focus firmly placed on the repairs, inspections and required flight rationale for the LOX/Intertank flange stringers, hopes have being raised of a positive outcome by the end of the coming week. However, deputy Space Shuttle Program (SSP) LeRoy Cain dismissed internal rumors of schedule pressure to avoid a slip to next year, by noting [...]
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With numerous repair operations ongoing with Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137), managers are creating a number of options to provide some additional flexibility in launching STS-133. As part of the evaluations, the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) have requested input from the International Space Station (ISS) on the option of a launch window which opens on December [...]
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Providing Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137) can be repaired and cleared for flight in time for the upcoming launch window, managers have created a preliminary plan for a Tanking Test, built into a six day countdown. In order to avoid a slip to next February, managers are focusing on gaining confidence in the intertank’s condition, which [...]
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Two more cracks has been found on a stringer adjacent to the two original cracks on Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137). The latest crack was found on the far left of removed Thermal Protection System (TPS) foam on the flange area between the Intertank and the LOX tank, but appears to have suffered less stress than [...]
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