STS-117 at T minus 1 day: NASA reports good weather, no technical glitches

William Atkins
Friday, 08 June 2007 02:31

Science - Space

Wednesday night in central Florida  saw strong winds, dark clouds, rain, and lightning all around KSC, However, most of the worst weather stayed away from the launch pad. About 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the NASA facility, 1.9-centimeter (0.75-inch) hail fell around the Melbourne, Florida area. (Damaging hail caused the two-month delay with the launch of STS-117 in March.)

The bad weather did slow down the loading of liquid hydrogen and oxygen for the fuel cell system onboard Atlantis. However, working throughout the night, workers managed to regain the time they lost and were back on schedule by early Thursday morning.

Currently, the chance of thunderstorms at launch time--7:38 p.m. EDT, 23:38 GMT--is set at about 20%, which gives an 80% chance of an on-time liftoff. Weather forecasters at NASA also give favorable conditions at NASA’s contingency landing sites.

If unable to liftoff on Friday, the next three possible launch days—June 9, 10, and 11—are not so favorable concerning the weather, with only a 60% chance of favorable weather at the three launch times.

The technical problem involving two lines from the external fuel tank to the orbiter was also resolved. Concern grew when an inspection of the two lines on Endeavour, the next shuttle going up, showed that their lengths were not the same as what were given by the manufacturer—indicating that they were installed improperly. If so, such a problem could cause a leak with the fuel. However, tests on Atlantis showed that no leaks were present.

The lines on Endeavour, which showed the initial problem, were replaced.