NASA launch pad sustains damage during STS-124 liftoff

William Atkins
Tuesday, 03 June 2008 07:54

Science - Space

Apparently, when NASA mission managers and engineers viewed and analyzed the lift-off sequence, it “appeared” that none of the debris bounced back and struck the Discovery.

However, inspections will be performed on space shuttle Discovery, as is always the case since the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia over the sky of Texas.

Currently, the space shuttle Discovery and its STS-124 crew are docked to the International Space Shuttle—having docked at about 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), on Monday, June 2, 2008. The crew was brought onboard the station at just after 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Unrelated to the debris from the flame trench, five pieces of foam insulation broke away from the orbiter’s external tank (ET) during liftoff. One or two of the pieces are thought to have hit the orbiter.

However, NASA thinks that the pieces fell off after they had any chance to cause serious damage. When pieces fall off high in Earth’s atmosphere, as was the case here, they are less likely to cause damage to the orbiter.

NASA managers, however, admitted that if debris ejected from the trench had struck the Discovery as it ascended upward, it would have most likely destroyed the shuttle and killed its crew.

Cain stated this “is a scenario that we are concerned about.” Currently, NASA is unsure why parts of the flame trench was destroyed, having never seen it occur before in 122 space shuttle missions. The U.S. space agency has brought together in investigation team to look into the problem.

Cain also added, “We need to go understand what that is” and "We'll go figure out what caused this much damage and we'll fix it.”

In the meantime, the launch pad would be repaired in preparation for the next flight, the lift-off of the space shuttle Atlantis and its STS-125 crew for its repair and service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

This mission to the Hubble is especially critical for NASA—one in which two launch pads are required. Because space shuttle Atlantis is not going to the International Space Station, there is no chance of its crew going to the Station in case an emergency occurs—one in which they cannot safely ride the shuttle back home to Earth.

Consequently, a backup, contingency support (launch on need) mission—STS-400—will be positioned on launch complex 39B (LC-39B) in case it needs to be launched in an attempt to rescue a stranded STS-124 crew.

Currently, space shuttle Endeavour is the shuttle to be used in case this mission needs to be launched. Its crew has yet to be announced.

Thus, two working launch pads are required for this mission. And, repairs to LC-39A must be completed before this mission can launch.

Cain said. "We need both launch pads, so that's not a negotiable term at this point."

However, according to Cain, this next flight would not be delayed due to this incident. STS-125 is scheduled to launch on October 8, 2008.

He stated, "I have no reason to believe that we'll delay the mission in October. I’m completely confident that we'll be able to put the necessary repairs in place."

All quotes used in this iTWire article are taken from either Space.com: “NASA Eyes Launch Pad Damage for Next Shuttle Flight” or The New York Times: “Shuttle Discovery Docks at Space Station."