Space shuttle ready to go! whoohoo

[Guest Ultralights]

just a little news story, good to see the shuttle fly again.

 

hopefully in the next few yrs i will be able to get to the cape to see a launch in the flesh

 

i have been there before, the shuttle was in orbit at the time, great to see live footage and communications between huston and the shuttle, anyway, just a news story i found today

 

The United States space shuttle Discovery began its crawl to a launch pad in Miami today, after a crack in insulation briefly delayed a significant step in NASA's two-year quest to return the shuttle fleet to flight.

 

The roll-out, taking place at barely 1kmh and expected to last six hours, was delayed by more than an hour after a hairline crack was spotted in the foam on the shuttle's external fuel tank.

 

Falling foam ripped a hole in Shuttle Columbia's wing in 2003, killing its seven-strong crew when the spacecraft disintegrated on re-entry, in the second fatal disaster to hit the shuttle program.

 

NASA consulted experts from the tank manufacturing facility in New Orleans to determine if repairs were needed to Discovery, then continued the shuttle's transfer on its giant platform to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

 

"They said the crack was so small it didn't need to be dealt with and we could fly as is," said Kennedy Space Centre spokesman Bruce Buckingham.

 

The roll-out was one of the last major steps before Discovery's launch, set between May 15 and June 3, a "window" allowing it to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

 

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It was another sign NASA has moved beyond improving the shuttle's safety after the February 1, 2003, Columbia disaster, which grounded the fleet, and has turned its attention to something it has done 113 times - prepare a 100-tonne space shuttle for launch.

 

Last-minute work on the ship's thermal protection shield had already postponed the roll-out by two days, and the prospects for launch on the target date of May 15 are growing increasingly dim.

 

Australian-born astronaut Andy Thomas is among the crew of the Discovery shuttle.

 

"I'd give it a 50-50 chance," shuttle program manager Bill Parsons said.

 

NASA is pressing to get Discovery airborne by June 3, the last day when conditions will be acceptable for launch with all the new safety considerations after the Columbia accident.

 

The damage to Columbia from falling debris went undetected until 16 days after launch, when the shuttle attempted to fly through the atmosphere for landing and superheated gases ate into the wing breach.

 

On the recommendation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, NASA redesigned the fuel tank and installed heaters to keep ice from forming - and then breaking off - after the tank is filled with super-cold propellants.

 

For the first two post-Columbia flights, NASA will only launch the shuttle during daylight so cameras will have a clear view of the lift-off and any debris that might fall off and hit the orbiter.

 

Likewise, the agency wants the separation of the external fuel tank, which occurs eight and a half minutes after launch, to take place during daylight.

 

If the flights succeed, the program can resume missions to build the space station.

 

Since the Columbia accident, the country's entire human space program has been recast, with the shuttle now set as the first step in a decades-long project to return astronauts to the moon and eventually send crews to Mars.

 

"If we can't fly the shuttle safely and complete the space station, then we won't be doing anything else," shuttle deputy program manager Wayne Hale said.

 

Reuters