NASA delayed Discovery's planned launch at least 24 hours to allow more time to troubleshoot a problem on one of the orbiter's main engine controllers.
Engineers detected voltage irregularities in the back up controller on Main Engine No. 3. Each of the shuttle's three liquid-fueled main engines have primary and back-up controllers that effectively are the electronic brains of the engines.
Liftoff had been scheduled for 3:52 p.m. Wednesday.
The earliest Discovery could launch now would be 3:29 p.m. Thursday. Weather conditions don't look good for that launch window, however. There is only a 30 percent chance that weather would cooperate.
The same back-up controller exhibited some circuitry trouble during routine prelaunch checkouts earlier in the countdown, but switch throws in the shuttle's cockpit cycled power on and off, clearing the problem. NASA Test Conductor Steve Payne said that problem was considered to be resolved.
Stay tuned for a news conference at 6:30 p.m. Click on the screen on the right to watch.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
18 comments:
NO SURPRISE THERE! FL TODAY makes it seem as if it wasn't expected to happen AGAIN! Its the only way NASA workers can keep working so they can all get their Christmas bonuses.
Lets hope it safe enough to fly. Probably need to consider aborting before they lose a few more astronauts due to lack of technical ability & will make this shuttle mission end up like Challenger! BOOM!! They need to fix it properly or just give it up.
NASA appears to have kept their best educated stupid people for the remaining flights. They're busy planning out their future & voting selections than focusing on their work. After all their jobs will all be gone next year.
Anonymous @ 6:11 pm - by your post, you've let us all know you're no brighter than that which you accuse NASA of being.
They're doing what they do EVERY LAUNCH - making sure the Shuttle is safe to fly - it has nothing to do with the end of the program.
More than one in 10 jobless Americans Check out the hundreds of job losses every day. www.dailyjobcuts.com . NASA space workers are only a “small microbe” among thousands who have lost their jobs yet these well paid NASA workers are immortalized as if they were indispensable and everyone else’s jobs are nonessential. Can’t watch the news without their sorry ass stories yet 1.47 million/ 10.4 percent have been out of work for more than 99 weeks with a few million more on the fourth & final tier of their unemployment benefits. US homeownership is at its lowest in more than a decade hindered by rising foreclosures. The housing mess will take years, possibly decades to clean up. Time to fix what we have here on Earth rather than waste billions on space missions to nowhere which won’t fix any of the present problems. End the Space Program NOW before another unfortunate tragedy due to slipshod, sloppy groundwork.
Anonymous @ 7:01 pm Looks like this shuttle mission could end up like the Challenger! BOOM!! Fireworks instead of Discovery's final mission. Umm I meant successful final mission.
Learn from your past NASA before it’s too late & then all you’ll say again is “I should have done more to prevent the the inevitable.”
From NASA's news after the Challenger Disaster or NASA'S careless blunder:
“I should have done more," the engineer told me, shaking his head. "I could have done more."
That engineer and several others were not surprised when Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. They worked for Morton Thiokol (now ATK Thiokol), the Utah-based NASA contractor which produced the solid rocket motors that lifted space shuttles from their launch pads. Some of those Thiokol engineers expected o-ring failures at liftoff. They knew that cold overnight temperatures forecast before launch would stiffen the rubber o-rings. They knew that stiff o-rings didn't provide a secure seal. In fact, there had been evidence of leakage, what the engineers called "blowby," on an earlier shuttle flight”
Can't you people realize that it may be a sign from god he don't want you to go this is the 3rd time it's been rescheduled!!! After all that is what's destroying the atmosphere!!!!!
Anonymous @ 7:01 pm - We can thank NASA for the invention of Space Sticks & Moon Tang. Way to go NASA for all the billions you wasted on risking lives for your inequitable worthless glory. Or was it all for the money!
Lack of technical ability, low employee morale,another round of anticipated job losses next year could be reasons for the 3rd delay unless it was due to extended coffee breaks. With so many sub-contractors working on these shuttles over the years, it's a wonder that any of them were able to get off the ground. (cheap parts; low bid contracts, et al.) We should be glad when this program is finally put to rest. Look at all the millions (no, billions) spent. What A Waste!
boy.. amazing the amount of moronic,low-life trailer trash that resides in Brevard County that post about our space program... go back home. I help process our orbiters and Im damn proud of the work i do out here. My performance appraisals reflect that also.
This isnt a lack of technical ability. Every launch vehicle has delays. Shuttle is no different.
Anonymous 7:01 - Don't kid yourself moron. NASA is FAR from bright after what went on behind those closed office doors.
I won't doubt what you wrote as you might be one of the few remaining shuttle workers left. "They're doing what they do EVERY LAUNCH - making sure the Shuttle is safe to fly"
Guess the workers all took a Siesta or two before the unfortunate Columbia & Challenger accidents. Yup, they're sure doing what they do EVERY LAUNCH-making sure the Shuttle is capable of lifting off rather than flying safely to its destination & safely returning"
Anonymous 7:48 PM Last I heard, Brevard County is where most of the shuttle workers reside according to NASA reports. Low-life trailer trash with the $$$$$$ payroll they all get? Wow, no wonder they're having so many delays.
Anon 7:48 PM "My performance appraisals reflect that also."
Now we know where Mickey Mouse goes when he's not at Disney. He's filling out performance appraisals with Goofy signing them making them official- :))
Geesh, so much hate on here. NASA engineers detected a problem, haulted the launch, and they're going to fix it. This is the nature of the business, and shows that they're paying attention. This is a good thing.
The posts on here remind me of my Army days. Little town in Oklahoma, whose whole existence depended on the Army post for some reason RESENTED the people providing them their income. It'll be interesting to see what happens here in Brevard after shuttle. I'll bet they'll be a lot of crying. I'll be OK. After 20+ years working shuttle, everything's paid for and I've got plenty of savings to see me through. One things for certain, I won't be spending any money in town, except for necessities. Let's see how all you sour-grapes whiners hold up!
Just remember, people out at the cape can get new jobs but you can't fix stupid. The jealous trailor trash posting these comments will still be here promoting hate on other unrelated stories...
You idiots are indirectly taking delight in the demise of your own community. Sad...
I can't believe the negativity here. You'd think there was a Tea Party convention going on or something.
I've got an idea for a couple of you idiots. Let's strap you in and try the launch as scheduled. You're right, why waste money being safe. Launching a 240,000 lb bomb into orbit so it can interface with another mass orbiting at 15,000 plus miles an hour is totally safe. You'd probably mess your britches within three miles of the SR3 gate tomorrow morning.
Of course if you got ill before your flight, us underpaid (average about 10% less than similarly qualified folks working comparable jobs) would be happy to sit you down in a chair in our dilapidated office areas and offer you a recovery drink of water from the ancient plumbing.
By the way, almost everyone I know has already moved onto other wonderful jobs in other states. I'm not worried about my job, and will get another in less than a week if the unexpected comes. I love working on the frontier of space and am proud of this awesome mission.
Anonymous @10:23 PM Interesting & amusing concept. Your plans on launching that 240,000 lb bomb into orbit - Care to take a test run yourself to show everyone how that may work? lol News media will be standing by for interviews upon your return - assuming you do return safely.
Amazing how people who think they're so intelligent reveal just how ignorant they are also. Seems there's just a lot of people venting their frustrations but it takes a bigger ignorance to keep fueling the fire. FL Today & local news channels televised NASA's laid off workers whining about their lost jobs as if it was Armageddon Day. Public knows NASA workers get decent pay for their skills so it was embarrassing the workers didn't move on & realize all the additional benefits NASA provided their workers on the way out. Assuming thats the reason for many of the negative comments.
Underpaid - what a crock. Dilapidated office areas- highly doubtful w/ all the govt spending & waste excluding the space program but all the other wastage that transpires in ALL govt facilities incl. NASA. The plumbing& water problems are expected near any coastal areas in case U didn't know. Its Brevard County & they probably took shortcuts on the plumbing & hooked the pipes to the river. That way county officials can spend money refurnishing their offices. NASA has a cafeteria & plenty of vending machines that provide bottled water or bring your own from home. Surely you can afford it. Nice to hear you won't be on that long unemployment line. Another job in less than a week - share that secret w/ your whining co-workers.
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