Tonight's space shuttle launch is postponed because of a leak of hydrogen gas during the fueling this afternoon.NASA launch crews and managers are scrambling to identify repair options and the earliest they could try to launch is tomorrow night. Liftoff would be 8:54 p.m. Managers are to convene at 5 p.m. and NASA plans a news briefing to explain its options no earlier than 7 p.m. We'll carry it here live.
However, engineers are still gathering data and it's unclear whether the problem could be repaired in time to try again tomorrow or even later this week.
NASA must launch by Monday or wait until April 7. The reason: a Russian Soyuz mission to swap out the crew of the International Space Station. A shuttle orbiter and two Soyuz craft cannot be docked at the outpost at the same time. The crew swap mission must fly on time because of the limited service life of the Soyuz already docked at the station, which serves as the current crew's escape craft. Among other considerations complicating the rescheduling is the planned launch Saturday of an Atlas V rocket carrying a military communications satellite, which may or may not take precedence over the space shuttle mission.
The shuttle fuel loading operation at KSC began at 11:56 a.m., and everything appeared on track with no technical problems and near-perfect weather.
Then, the launch had to be called off about 20 minutes before the tank was full. NASA spokesmen characterized the leak as "slight" and immediately looked into repair options.
The suspect location is in a pipe that routes gaseous hydrogen out of the liquid hydrogen portion of the external tank, helping to keep pressure inside the tank at proper levels. The excess hydrogen is vented through a line to a flare stack at the launch complex that is designed to burn it off.
The leak was detected near a plate that basically serves as a connecting point between pipes from ground equipment on the pad and the external tank. See the photos at right, which show closeups of the connection point about two-thirds of the way up the 15-story fuel tank.
NASA says the leak is not related to one of the gaseous hydrogen flow control valves that prompted a previous one month delay in Discovery's launch.
The astronauts were just over a couple hours from suiting up for flight and heading out to the pad when the launch was called off.
"I imagine they are not too happy about not launching tonight, but they have to have a safe shuttle to fly on so they understand," said Allard Beutel, KSC spokesman.
9 comments:
I don't like the sounds of this. I hope this is an easy fix.
Mark
It's all George Washington's fault.
better safe then sorry
"A shuttle orbiter and two Soyuz craft cannot be docked at the outpost at the same time."
I don't understand that. It can't be a physical limitation. The ISS will be ready for a six person crew after STS-127 (May 2009?). which will need two permanently docked Soyuz craft. And several shuttles will need to dock between then and September 2010.
John, I believe that pipe is a vent for the LH2 portion of the ET. Gaseous hydrogen flows out of the tank through this pipe, not into it.
Anonymous:
You are absolutely right!
Thanks for pointing that out.
We've fixed the reference in the post.
Thanks again!
Its better to postpone the launch rather than put the lives of the astronauts in danger.. Just like Mark Lopa, I also hope that this problem would be fixed easily so that the mission can continue.. I also hope for no more further delays.. Thanks for this post..
Leaks won't only cause delay in space shuttle flights. It can even cause the whole project to be put into waste. Similarly,a flare pilot in oil rig must be checked well in order to avoid possible explosions and further casualties.
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