KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
(UPDATED) FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1996 (7:07 PM EDT)Mission managers decided late today to not roll Atlantis back out to the pad in order to destack the vehicle from its current set of solid rocket boosters and re-stack it to another set. Atlantis has been in the Vehicle Assembly Building since Wednesday when it was taken off Pad 39A due to threats from Hurricane Bertha.
This decision will delay Atlantis' launch until mid-September.
Atlantis' boosters are being replaced because of hot gas seepage into the field joints of the Columbia STS-78 boosters, which was launched on June 20.
An investigation found that the most probable cause of the seepage was related to the use of a new adhesive and cleaning fluid.
The investigation also concluded that the risk of a field joint failure was improbable and that the STS-79 boosters were safe to fly. The decision to replace the STS-79 boosters, which utilized the new adhesive used on STS-78, was made to provide an opportunity to better understand the J-joint failure and to improve the safety margin of the field joints.
Additional information and timelines for destacking and restacking Atlantis will be available next week.