A faulty electronics box will be replaced on shuttle Discovery's lefthand solid rocket booster, but the work will not delay NASA plans to launch its second post-Columbia test flight on July 1.
Technicians will do the job at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B, and NASA still has more than a week of extra time in the processing schedule leading up to the opening of a window that extends through July 19.
"We're taking weekends off. That's how well the flow is going at the pad," said Kyle Herring, a spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
During routine testing last week, engineers testing the booster's power distribution system noted an unexpected power shift from a prime to a back-up circuit. It wasn't clear what prompted the shift.
NASA engineers now think the culprit is a faulty Integrated Electronics Unit, a critical device that serves as the primary communications link between the booster and shuttle orbiter computers.
Each booster is equipped with two of the electronics boxes. They provide control electronics for the booster during launch, ascent and separation as well as booster splashdown and recovery operations.
The faulty unit will be replaced in the coming weeks while other routine prelaunch work continues at NASA's coastal Florida spaceport.
Technicians have swapped the electronics boxes at the pad during at least two previous launch campaigns.
An STS-43 launch attempt in 1991 was delayed a day to replace on of the units. The boxes on both boosters were replaced at the pad prior to the STS-96 launch in May 1999.
Image note: Click to enlarge this image of Discovery on launch pad 39B after rollout last month. It was taken by NASA photographer Ken Thornsley.
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