NASA aims to resume shuttle Discovery's countdown today after tests apparently exonerated a suspect main propulsion system valve that triggered a launch delay earlier this week.
But NASA mission managers still must be briefed on the test results before they make a decision on whether to press ahead with a launch attempt shortly after midnight Friday.
"The valve worked without any hang-ups or other problems. It opened and closed the way it was supposed to," said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel. "It's a step in the right direction."
The 18-story spaceship and its crew remain tentatively scheduled to launch at 12:22 a.m. Friday on an International Space Station outfitting mission. Discovery and its crew also would have another opportunity to set sail for the outpost at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
The weather forecasts for both opportunities are favorable.
NASA mission managers will meet at 1 p.m. to review valve test results. A second meeting to decide whether to proceed with propellant-loading operations is scheduled to begin at 2:15 p.m.
Given a go-ahead from mission managers, engineers would begin loading 500,000 gallons of supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into Discovery’s external tank just before 3 p.m.
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1 comment:
The tests were at normal Florida temperature though, and the vslve failed when chilled by liquid hydrogen.
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