Shuttle program managers at 10 a.m. EST today will begin a weekly meeting that may or may not be decisive in determining whether Discovery can launch later this month. Discovery is targeted for launch of its final mission no earlier than Dec. 17.
Engineers will update their progress since last Wednesday analyzing the shuttle's external tank, which underwent repairs after two metal support beams cracked during fueling operations nearly a month ago.
Teams are building mathematical models to help explain why "stringers" on the intertank, which sits between liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen containers, cracked during the loading of supercold propellants Nov. 5.
Manages also want to know how likely it is that more cracks could occur, creating the potential for a dangerous chunk of insulating foam to be flung toward the orbiter, and why the potential for cracks escaped earlier notice.
Meanwhile, inspection of the tank continues this morning at launch pad 39A, suggesting the analysis won't be completed today.
Engineers and technicians are using a non-destructive X-ray technology to look beneath the layer of insulating foam to examine a flange joining sections of the tank.
In other activity, batteries for spacesuits that will be used during the 11-day mission have been returned to Houston for charging. Heaters have been activated to keep parts of the orbiter warm on a chilly morning.
IMAGE: On Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 30, the cracks on space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank have been repaired. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
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