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Shuttle Launch In May Might Be Still On Track
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Mar 12, 2006 Space shuttle Discovery remains set so far for a launch around mid-May, despite a worrisome glitch in an engine-cutoff valve in its main fuel tank, and possible tile damage caused by an assembly mishap. According to NASA's latest shuttle status report, the date of Discovery's return to flight is listed as "no earlier than May 11," and mission controllers have neither canceled nor postponed that date, and they have not scheduled any special news conferences to discuss the possibility. As of last Friday, NASA said, technicians continued final closeouts on the orbiter in preparation for its roll over from Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Workers also completed checks for leaks in the liquid oxygen system on Discovery's main engines No. 2 and 3. The previous weekend, technicians inside a work platform device called a bridge bucket had bumped into Discovery's remote shuttle arm accidentally. The bucket was being used in the payload bay to clean up pieces of glass from a broken heat lamp. That accident caused pieces of glass to fall into the payload bay. NASA said initial inspections showed two indentations in the arm's outer bumper, a honeycombed structure made of epoxy designed to protect it. One of the indentations is 0.115 inches deep and 1 inch long. The second indentation is 0.035 inches deep and 0.5 inches long. Technicians completed inspections of the forward indentation were completed Thursday night, and no issues were found. The second indentation will be inspected today. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space Shuttle Kennedy Space Center NASA Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
QuVIS And Rorke Data System To Support Shuttle Safety
Topeka KS (SPX) Mar 10, 2006QuVIS and Rorke Data will provide a new high-grade imaging and data-storage system to help NASA detect and track possible damage to the space shuttle fleet during its return to flight. |
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