Tuesday, January 11, 2011

NASA confident Discovery's tank problems are solved

NASA officials today said they are confident Discovery will be ready to fly in late February after planned upgrades to prevent cracks on external tank support beams.

"We have root cause, and we have a fix that we're completely confident will eliminate those root causes," said John Shannon, the shuttle program manager.

Engineers believe a combination of a slightly more fracture-prone alloy and small stresses added during the manufacturing process led to cracks in five of 108 support beams called stringers on the tank's mid-section, a problem that has delayed Discovery's launch since early November.

Six-inch strips of metal called radius blocks are being added to the tops of most of the stringers to stiffen them.

Discovery is expected to target a Feb. 24 launch, a date that would depend on an on-time Feb. 15 launch of Europe's second ATV cargo spacecraft.

New target dates will be set Thursday, including a likely move of Endeavour's flight from April 1 to April 18.

Both the remaining tanks left after Discovery's are expected to undergo tanking tests and X-rays of their stringers. The tank slated to fly with final shuttle flight over the summer is expected to need radius blocks added to its stringers.

Officials declined to answer questions about whether Mark Kelly, the husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot last weekend, would remain as commander of Endeavour's flight.

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