Posted on 07/13/2005 4:56:41 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers put a brief but embarrassing setback behind them as the countdown to the first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years entered its final hours Wednesday, with only predicted thunderstorms posing some concern.
A temporary window cover fell off the shuttle and damaged thermal tiles near the tail Tuesday afternoon, just two hours after NASA declared Discovery ready to return the nation to space for the first time since the Columbia disaster.
The mishap was an eerie reminder of the very thing that doomed Columbia — damage to the spaceship's fragile thermal shield.
Discovery and its crew of seven were set to blast off at 3:51 p.m. EDT on a flight to the international space station.
Fueling of the external tank, set to begin about an hour before sunrise, was delayed while workers changed a part on a launch-pad heater. NASA officials said the swapping out of the part wasn't expected to affect the launch time.
The lightweight plastic cover on one of Discovery's cockpit windows came loose while the spaceship was on the launch pad, falling more than 60 feet and striking a bulge in the fuselage, said Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager in charge of Discovery's launch preparations.
No one knows why the cover — held in place with tape and weighing less than 2 pounds — fell off, she said. The covers are used prior to launch to protect the windows while the shuttle is on the launch pad, then removed before liftoff.
Two tiles on an aluminum panel were damaged, and the entire panel was replaced with a spare; Stilson called it a minor repair job.
Space agency managers held one last meeting Tuesday to address lingering technical concerns and later pronounced Discovery ready to fly.
"We have done everything that we know to do," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said afterward.
The families of the seven astronauts killed during Columbia's catastrophic re-entry praised the accident investigators, a NASA oversight group and the space agency itself for defining and reducing the dangers.
Like those who lost loved ones in the Apollo 1 spacecraft fire and the Challenger launch explosion, the Columbia families said they grieve deeply "but know the exploration of space must go on."
"We hope we have learned and will continue to learn from each of these accidents so that we will be as safe as we can be in this high-risk endeavor," they said in a statement. "Godspeed, Discovery."
Discovery will be setting off on the 114th space shuttle flight in 24 years with a redesigned external fuel tank and nearly 50 other improvements made in the wake of the Columbia tragedy.
A chunk of foam insulation the size of a carry-on suitcase fell off Columbia's fuel tank at liftoff and slammed into a reinforced carbon panel on the shuttle's wing, creating a hole that brought the spacecraft crashing down in pieces during its return to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003.
During their 12-day flight, Discovery's astronauts will test various techniques for patching cracks and holes in the thermal shielding.
The crew members also will try out a new 50-foot boom designed to give them a three-dimensional laser view of the wings and nose cap and help them find any damage caused by liftoff debris. That is on top of all the pictures of the spacecraft that will be taken by more than 100 cameras positioned around the launching site and aboard two planes and the shuttle itself.
Until the window cover fell, NASA's only concern was the weather. Because of thunderstorms in the forecast, the chances of acceptable weather at launch time were put at 60 percent, down from 70 percent a day earlier.
"We're just hoping that the weather gods are kind," Griffin said. "Weather's always out there. We'll just deal with it as it comes."
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On the Net:
NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov
What's on the agenda for this mission, seeing if a potato clock works in outer space?
During their 12-day flight, Discovery's astronauts will test various techniques for patching cracks and holes in the thermal shielding.
The crew members also will try out a new 50-foot boom designed to give them a three-dimensional laser view of the wings and nose cap and help them find any damage caused by liftoff debris.
Anyone know of live web coverage for the cubicle-bound. I'm especially interested in live launch webcams.
Ping!
Worthless waste of money alert!
God speed, Discovery...
Thank you!
KTTS 131010 VRB03KT 9999 FEW020 FEW150 BKN200 QNH3002INS
BECMG 1415 16003KT 9999 VCSH FEW025 FEW150 BKN200 QNH3000INS
TEMPO 1519 14009KT 6000 -TSRA FEW025CB FEW150 BKN200
BECMG 1920 VRB03KT 9999 NSW FEW025 FEW150 SCT200
QNH2997INS T32/18Z T24/09Z LAST NO AMDS AFT 1312 NEXT 1320
My translation: "The followiing conditions might persist for less than an hour from 11am to 3pm: Winds from the SE at 9kts(10mph), Thunderstorms with light rain, light cumulonimbus cloud coverage at 2500 ft, Light cloud layer at 15000 ft, near overcast high clouds at 20000 ft.
From 3pm to 4pm Winds variable at 3 knots (4 mph), unlimited visibility, No Significant Weather, light cloud coverage at 2500 ft, light cloud layer at 15000, clouds breaking up at 20000 ft."
In other words, might get a storm in the early afternoon, but it should be relatively clear with white puffy clouds around launch time.
'Bout midnight my time. I'll try to stay awake...
That productive. Kind of like walking to the store to buy enough water to make up for the water loss of walking to the store.
No, that's kind of like bringing along a jack and spare tire so you can get back home.
I think most of us will be kind of holding our breath on this one until it comes back home and lands safely.
Yeah, I know what you mean. An acquaintance of mine is on this flight and I'm praying they all come back safely.
I think it's exciting and it would be nice for us to celebrate some good news in the wake of recent world events. I'm very much looking forward to it and have my Real Player set and ready to watch the launch this afternoon.
There are neither spinoffs, nor do the actual projects represent valid research with the exception of the space telescopes. Did you know that we gave the 35 billion dollar space station to the Russians? Any idea why?
Practically speaking, we will never inhabit space and we get no usefull science from manned space travel. But the government loves to tell scifi stories to justify enourmous expense which is simply pork barrel politics.
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