While it looked like it was possible Discovery could have managed to dodge the weather over the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), low clouds finally put pay to STS-116’s first attempt to launch.
NASA held Discovery in the T-5 minute hold for the remainder of the launch window in the hope the clouds would clear, but that window evaporated as the weather failed to improve. NASA will make a second attempt on Saturday at 8:47pm local time.
**Over 2100mb of STS-116 onwards related presentions and mission documentation are available on L2****Ride home through the fire and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis – Stunning 2hr, 355mb video**
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Key Events
NEWSFLASHES: Fuel Cell Master Alarm – cleared: ‘The Master Alarm that occurred during FC Activation was attributed to the LOMS LOX Pressure being on the low side. Re-cycling.’
Low pressure noted on Forwards Reaction Control System. ‘OMRSD waiver in progress.’
MMT GO FOR LAUNCH. MMT: GO FOR TANKING. LH2 SLOW FILL PROCEEDING SMOOTHLY. ECO SENSORS COMMANDED FROM WET TO DRY ON SIM COMMAND – As they should.
EXTERNAL TANK INTO STABLE REPLENISH. WEATHER LOOKING WORSE – INCLUDING AT TAL SITES – Next TUESDAY is only ‘good looking’ attempt outlook.
VAPOR CONCERN NOTED FOR EVALUATION ON TOP OF GOX VENTHOOD – Frosting concern.
Hydralics Sys 1 Circ Pump P Pressure is well above LCC limits.
Crew suitup has begun.
ICE TEAM: RCS COVERS – OK. EVALUATIONS OF ICE FORMING ON DUCK.
FIX IN WORKS ON VAB HIGH BAY 2 DOOR.
WEATHER IMPROVING – BEFORE WORSENING LATE IN COUNT.
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Article:
NASA had successfully worked through a number of issues (see newsflashes above), with only cloud cover being the critical problem.
Leaving it until the very last minute, Discovery was held at the T-5 minute mark, as weather aircraft monitored the cloud cover situation in real time.
Once the final call back was made – by Steve Lindsey in the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) – that the weather had not improved, NASA called a scrub, just as the final seconds of the launch window ran out.
With Friday’s weather being 90 percent ‘no go’ – the next attempt will take place on Saturday night.The only notes of interest earlier in the day were workers being temporarily stuck in a lift at the launch pad, a waiver being called for a Landing Load Requirement – after two crewmembers have weighed in overweight – and a virus concern on the NASA e-mail system.
Slightly before 1am local time, the RSS (Rotating Service Structure) was rolledback to reveal a floodlit Discovery sat on the pad. That operation went to plan, although some workers at the pad shortly before rollback found their work delayed.
‘Some guys are stuck in the elevator at the pad,’ noted the MER (Mission Evaluation Room) notes at 4am local time. They were freed shortly afterwards. The elevator in question was Elevator 2.
‘Elevator 2 was stuck at Pad. Taken for visibility purposes since this has happened several time in the past few days. Will open IPR and then upgrade to PR, which refers to the T/S. IPR closed.’
The only other note of interest before dawn has been a call for a waiver on the Landing Load Requirement in the case of an emergency landing.
‘There is a potential violation of the OVEI 20g Emergency Landing (Crash) Load Requirement,’ added the MER notes.
‘The weight of two of the crew members exceeds the allowable limit of 313 lbs. In the past similar occurrences were covered with a waiver. Coordination is in work with USA and NASA customer.’
Also being sent around NASA e-mails is a virus concern, where workers are being told not to send attachments, but to copy and paste notes into the body of their e-mails.
It is not yet known at this time how this could affect launch preparations, with sources noting this is more an inconvenience than a constraint, despite the serious wording of the e-mail.
‘Message From Wayne Hale – Email Issue.
‘This is a first story so please bear with me. Apparently Microsoft has alerted the agency CIO that there is a new trojan horse that attaches itself to emails with .doc attachments. This is reported to have severe impacts.
‘The agency CIO wants to turn on software to strip off all .doc attachments off of emails. We need to know if this is a severe mission impact or if people can live for at least…a few days with cutting and pasting the body of text out of .doc documents into the body of their emails. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. Please evaluate and respond immediately.’
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