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Hail-damaged shuttle fuel tank assessment continues BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: March 15, 2007
Program managers continue to hold out hope the damage can be fixed before the current shuttle launch window closes May 21. But repairs near the tip of the tank, which experiences the most extreme heating and buffeting during ascent, will require engineers to spray on new foam insulation. That is considered a "non-standard" repair and it will require a detailed engineering analysis to ensure the new foam can stand up to the aerodynamic and thermal rigors of launch, at least until the shuttle is out of the dense lower atmosphere. "They are still hopeful they can develop flight rationale that will say this is a safe tank," said a NASA official familiar with the ongoing assessment. Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale today cleared tank workers to begin repairing damage that can be fixed by so-called "sand-and-blend" techniques or filling in isolated dings and pits, both considered "standard" repairs. No spraying will be attempted until engineers practice with a mockup. Engineers are hopeful the tank can be fixed during a somewhat arbitrarily defined 45-day processing flow that would lead to a launch around May 11. But that is little more than a best-case hope at present and it assumes program managers decide it is safe to press ahead with the manual spraying required to fix the current tank. NASA could opt to move Atlantis to the tank scheduled for use by the shuttle Endeavour on the next shuttle mission, STS-118, a tank that is scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in early April. Switching to that tank, however, would delay the Atlantis launch until around June 21 at the earliest and delay Endeavour's flight to late August. Subsequent flights would be similarly affected. Even if NASA ultimately moves Atlantis to Endeavour's tank, the current hail-damaged tank will still be repaired at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA managers have decided repair crews would have better access at Kennedy than at Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The long-term ramifications of a delay to mid May or late June are not yet clear. Shuttle managers believe they can eventually make up the lost time but with the shuttle program scheduled to end in 2010, "the clock is ticking," said one official. Falling behind now would make it more difficult to recover from problems down the road. In the near term, the current launch window closes May 21 and reopens June 8, based on thermal issues related to the space station's orbit. The only other known deadline affecting STS-117 launch options involves the age of Atlantis's boosters. Officials say one or more segments will be five years old on July 8, the currently certified maximum age for booster segment propellant loads. |
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MISSION INDEX |
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Battered by an intense hail storm six days earlier, space shuttle Atlantis retreated off launch pad 39A and returned to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building on March 4 to undergo thorough inspections and repairs.
The STS-117 astronauts meet the press during the traditional pre-flight news conference held at the Johnson Space Center a month prior to launch. The six-person crew will deliver and activate a solar-power module for the International Space Station.
After a six-hour trip along the three-and-a-half-mile crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building, space shuttle Atlantis arrives at launch pad 39A for the STS-117 mission.
Space shuttle Atlantis emerges from its processing hangar at dawn February 7 for the short trip to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center's Complex 39.
This documentary takes a look at the technical aspects of Project Mercury, including development of the capsule and the pioneering first manned flights of America's space program.
The voyage of Apollo 15 took man to the Hadley Rille area of the moon. Astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin explored the region using a lunar rover, while Al Worden remained in orbit conducting observations. "Apollo 15: In the Mountains of the Moon" is a NASA film looking back at the 1971 flight.