In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, United Space Alliance and B.F. Goodrich technicians work on the starboard landing gear assembly of space shuttle Discovery. They will replace a leaking dynamic seal in Discovery's right main-gear strut. The struts act as shock absorbers during the shuttle's landing. Engineers determined the observed leak of hydraulic fluid in the main landing gear strut exceeded specification and could not be reduced to an acceptable rate. Removing the strut and replacing seals require disconnecting and replacing the brakes and tires, disconnecting and reconnecting instruments and other requirements to allow access to the strut. Photo by George Shelton/NASA.
A new hydraulic seal will be installed today on Discovery's right landing gear strut, which acts as a shock absorber.
"We got the old leaking dynamic seal out, and we're putting the new seal in this morning," said NASA spokesman George Diller.
The seal removal and replacement should be finished today. A testing procedure is being developed.
"By tomorrow we should be able to get into the retest," Diller said.
Discovery had been scheduled to move from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building today, however that move should happen around the middle of next week, said Diller.
The orbiter processing schedule had only five padding days, so this repair is likely to delay the Oct. 23 launch by several days, he added.
This photo shows the inside of space shuttle Discovery's right main-gear strut where a leaking seal has been found. Photo by George Shelton/NASA.
2 comments:
Pat:
Why didn't they just take the main landing gear off one of the other obiters and swap it out with Discovery's?
Or would that have taken too long?
Rick Steele
Sarasota, Florida
Fixing the seal was the easiest way to go.
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