LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center, where shuttle Endeavour is being readied for a critical fuel-loading test. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds.
NASA unveiled shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A late Tuesday in advance of a critical fuel-loading test that will determine whether shuttle Endeavour launches next week or next month.
With countdown clocks ticking toward an early-morning start of fuel-loading operations, NASA engineers backed a 13-story service tower away from Endeavour about 11:45 p.m.The move set the stage for NASA and contractor engineers to start loading a half-million gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the shuttle's 15-story external tank at 7 a.m.
You can watch live NASA TV coverage of the tanking test beginning at 7 a.m. Simply click the NASA TV box at the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.
Look for Endeavour's external tank to reach the 98-percent full level between 9 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. That's the point at which dangerous gaseous hydrogen leaks cropped up prior to launch attempts on June 13 and June 17, triggering back-to-back launch scrubs.A higher-than-allowable leak would likely force NASA to roll Endeavour back to the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building to swap external tanks -- and that move would push the next launch attempt back to late July or early August.
Check out this series of NASA screen grabs that show the Rotating Service Structure being backed away from Endeavour:
4 comments:
Is there a technical reason for this test to need to include loading liquid oxygen? As the problem only involves the hydrogen venting.
Is there a technical reason why this test involved filling both tanks?
The only known problem is the hydrogen vent fitting.
Conor: You're right that the leaking issue has only involved hydrogen venting. But I'm told that it's easier to follow the same fueling procedure rather than change things around, and obviously it will recreate the exact conditions that will be encountered on launch day (except for the timing).
Yes. I suppose the absence of that much weight could affect the test. Didn't the Saturn V shrink somewhat when fully fuelled.
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