Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tanking test reset for early afternoon

Kennedy Space Center teams now hope to begin pumping cryogenic propellants into shuttle Atlantis' external tank around 12:30 p.m.

Today's tanking test has been delayed by storms yesterday afternoon and overnight that produced lightning strikes within a quarter-mile of the pad, and follow-up inspections to ensure no systems were damaged.

Once under way, loading of the 15-story external tank with 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen takes about three hours.

No comments: