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
Considering your anti-NASA remarks, I guess you have dropped the 'Mr Math and Physics' nome de plume...
BTW you saluted him because he was a superior officer. Guess you missed that in basic...
Oh, yeah...the Brits do alcoholic beverages with expertise. And that restaurant specializes in Tex-Mex and brought the experts in to cook. I was thrilled to find it last year when I went to London.
I'll watch my back, but I want to get away from terrorism and bombs. I'm confident things will be back to normal then. Fortunately, terrorists don't scare me or make me change my plans. Ill be vigilant, but they're not going to rob my fun.
How I hate them.
Showers are beginning to develop west of the launch pad, which weather forecasters had expected.
The inspection team is responsible for checking Discovery and the launch pad one last time prior to liftoff. The 8-person team is comprised of engineers and safety officials from NASA, United Space Alliance and tank-builder Lockheed Martin. At the conclusion of their two-hour tour-of-duty, the team will have walked up and down the entire fixed service structure and mobile launcher platform.
The team is on the lookout for any abnormal ice or frost build-up on the vehicle and integrity of the external tank foam insulation.
The team uses a portable infrared scanner that gathers temperature measurements on the surface area of the shuttle and can spot leaks. The scanner will be used to obtain temperature data on the external tank, solid rocket boosters, space shuttle orbiter, main engines and launch pad structures. The scanner can also spot leaks of the cryogenic propellants, and due to its ability to detect distinct temperature differences, can spot any dangerous hydrogen fuel that is burning. The team member also is responsible for photo documentation.
Not sure. Guess the mods could make it the official thread.
Weather's doing it's thing. At least here in Daytona (40mi north of Cape Canaveral), the sea breeze has been kicking in about noon every day, leaving the coast clear but leading to massive thunderstorms 30-40 miles inland. Wonder what the weather launch minimums are.
If they have Corazon Tequila give it a try. The Anjeo' is like drinking iced tea it is so smooth.
Stay safe and PARTY ON!!!!
terrorists=weenie scumbags that won't fight like real Warriors.
terrorists don't scare me or make me change my plans.
That's because you are from Houston;)
Bumpity.
This statement isn't very comforting.
Live Thread at
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1441951/posts?page=18
Tell that to the many physicists and astronomers who also scoff at the manned space program and point out how much more could be done with unmanned. On the order of 30 to 100 times more. Our own professor Van Allen of the U of I to name one.
By the way, the computer claim is just like my UAW dad who told me that we owe the existence of the weekend to unions. On a similarly absurd note there is a Catholic thread where they claim to have invented everything from universities to hospitals to fire and the wheel. I can only laugh at people that make such sad claims.</p>
That explains why the shuttle is swerving around on their mission logo; the women are driving.
Oh, ye of little faith! Surely you know that Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) is ready to save you and yours from any such ridicul--... er, I mean, impending doom.
I sure don't want to see my tax money get wasted like this.
In this case yes, it would be hard to imagine a near term return on investment. However, that does not mean that the government needs to build and operate spacecraft, they can merely provide funding.
Do they still call your area the "Lightning Capital of the World"? On my visits to Orlando and Daytona, you could almost count on 3-4pm storms.
Link please?
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