A small knob has been freed from the cockpit of shuttle Atlantis, a step toward easing concerns that the orbiter could face a lengthy mission delay or even be retired early. The notched rotary knob, used to fasten a work light to a bracket, wedged itself between the shuttle's dashboard and one of six forward windows during the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in May.
But NASA must now assess any damage the knob caused to Window No. 5, which could still result in significant delays if its pressure pane needs to be replaced.
The knob had caused at least nicks to the inner pane of the three-paned window, and NASA was concerned that some removal techniques would cause more serious damage.
Under worst-case scenarios, disassembly of the dashboard might have been required, threatening the timing of a targeted November STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.
A first attempt to loosen the crescent-shaped knob using dry ice failed.
But it was freed overnight Monday after technicians in Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility Bay No. 1 pressurized Atlantis' crew cabin, causing it to expand slightly.
The cabin was expected to be pressurized to between 17.6 and 17.9 pounds per square inch, a bit higher than the roughly sea-level pressure used in flight of 14.7 psi. Over the course of the mission's five back-to-back spacewalks, the pressure was reduced to 10.2 psi.
Now NASA must evaluate whether the inner window pane must be replaced, a job that used to be done at a California facility that has been shut down and has never been done at KSC.
It is not yet clear how long that task might take, if necessary.
Atlantis is targeted to launch Nov. 12 on a mission to carry spare parts to the space station.
According to NASA, the parts include a gyroscope, nitrogen tank assembly, ammonia tank assembly, latching end effector for the station's robotic arm, trailing umbilical system for the rail car that the arm travels on, an antenna and a high pressure gas tank.
That is one of two remaining flights Atlantis is scheduled to make before NASA retires the three-orbiter shuttle fleet late next year. Check out the schedule here.
IMAGE NOTE: On June 2, space shuttle Atlantis on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, parked on the tarmac of NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The SCA landed at Kennedy after a more than 2,500-mile cross-country ferry flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
5 comments:
What was his name?
Any hopes this country ever had of serious deep space travel are nothing but dreams. If a loose knob can cause this much of a fiasco how the heck can we seriously expect NASA to be able to find its butt with both hands and a flashlight much less travel to another planet. Heck, they cant even launch a rocket in the rain.
I agree completely with Anonymous II above. We can't get the shuttle right, but we're going to go back to the moon in 11 years and then to Mars? And yet, a little knob almost permanently grounded the most technologically advanced machine in the world. You've got to be kidding me.
Unless we get the shuttle right, we have no business spending billions of dollars going back to the moon, to say nothing about going to Mars. Mars? We supposedly have to hitch a ride with the Russians for who knows how many years because we can't close The Gap, yet we're supposed to get all jazzed about going to Mars?
@ Anonymous (2): A: We can't launch in rain because of what it can do the spacecraft and its payload. Would you rather us launch in rain to satisfy you and then lose the rocket and the payload in the process?
B: The stuck knob caused a "fiasco" as you put it, because of where it was logged. It was pushing up again the inner pressure pane window of window-#5. If the knob has damaged the pressure pane to a great extent, then the pressure pane could blow out during the next mission of Atlantis causing the death of the crew and the loss of the vehicle. Should we take the time to repair it, learn why the knob came off, and why it got stuck before we fly Atlantis again? OR, would you prefer we just ignore it, fly anyway, and hope the best since, as you put it, we clearly won't get anywhere by understanding what happened?
Try learning the facts before you start talking!
Anonymous (3). He has a point. A freak accident but caused by sloppy design.
Is it impossible to design a cockpit with a gap between window and console, or a window that can be replaced without extensive dismantling? Clearly not. You wouldn't like your auto to be in a repair shop for since months for a new windshield to be fitted.
If manned spaceflight it to prosper, we need simpler and more robust vehicles.
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