Chief
10-01-2007, 05:53 PM
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts120/070930rollout/
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 30, 2007
A powerful Apollo-era crawler-transporter slowly carried the shuttle Discovery from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch complex 39A today for work to ready the ship for blastoff Oct. 23 on a complex space station assembly mission.
The three-mile trip began around 6:47 a.m. and the orbiter's mobile launch platform was "hard down" at the pad by around 1:15 p.m.
NASA had hoped to move the ship to the pad last week, but the trip was delayed after engineers discovered a hydraulic leak in the shuttle's right main landing gear strut. Four seals in the strut mechanism were replaced, clearing the way for rollout Saturday - sooner than expected - but another delay was ordered because of threatening weather.
Even with the slips, Discovery processing manager Stephanie Stilson told reporters today engineers still have two full days of contingency time to handle unexpected problems between now and Oct. 23, thanks in large part to changes intended to streamline the loading of rocket fuel for the ship's maneuvering thrusters.
"As usual, you hit stumbling blocks along the way, scheduling issues, weather and so forth, but overall the vehicle looks real good, everything we have scheduled is laid out well," Stilson said. "We'd like to have more contingency (time), we'd always like to have more. That way, you just have that much more assurance you're going to make your launch date. But we feel comfortable with two (days) and when we're ready to go, we'll go. If we can't make it on the 23rd, we'll do it as soon as we can. But right now, the 23rd is looking like a good day for us."
The goal of Discovery's mission is to deliver the multi-hatch Harmony module to the international space station, a pressurized compartment that ultimately will be attached to the front of the Destiny laboratory module to serve as the anchor point for European and Japanese research modules.
The Discovery astronauts plan to stage five spacewalks to attach and outfit Harmony, to move a set of stowed solar arrays to the far left end of the station's main power truss and to test shuttle heat shield repair techniques.
**SCHNIPP**
About three weeks off, worth watching the liftoff...
;D
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 30, 2007
A powerful Apollo-era crawler-transporter slowly carried the shuttle Discovery from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch complex 39A today for work to ready the ship for blastoff Oct. 23 on a complex space station assembly mission.
The three-mile trip began around 6:47 a.m. and the orbiter's mobile launch platform was "hard down" at the pad by around 1:15 p.m.
NASA had hoped to move the ship to the pad last week, but the trip was delayed after engineers discovered a hydraulic leak in the shuttle's right main landing gear strut. Four seals in the strut mechanism were replaced, clearing the way for rollout Saturday - sooner than expected - but another delay was ordered because of threatening weather.
Even with the slips, Discovery processing manager Stephanie Stilson told reporters today engineers still have two full days of contingency time to handle unexpected problems between now and Oct. 23, thanks in large part to changes intended to streamline the loading of rocket fuel for the ship's maneuvering thrusters.
"As usual, you hit stumbling blocks along the way, scheduling issues, weather and so forth, but overall the vehicle looks real good, everything we have scheduled is laid out well," Stilson said. "We'd like to have more contingency (time), we'd always like to have more. That way, you just have that much more assurance you're going to make your launch date. But we feel comfortable with two (days) and when we're ready to go, we'll go. If we can't make it on the 23rd, we'll do it as soon as we can. But right now, the 23rd is looking like a good day for us."
The goal of Discovery's mission is to deliver the multi-hatch Harmony module to the international space station, a pressurized compartment that ultimately will be attached to the front of the Destiny laboratory module to serve as the anchor point for European and Japanese research modules.
The Discovery astronauts plan to stage five spacewalks to attach and outfit Harmony, to move a set of stowed solar arrays to the far left end of the station's main power truss and to test shuttle heat shield repair techniques.
**SCHNIPP**
About three weeks off, worth watching the liftoff...
;D