William Atkins
Sunday, 15 March 2009 19:04
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
After repairing a leak in a gaseous hydrogen vent line, NASA is ready to launch the space shuttle Discovery on Sunday evening, March 15, 2009, from its Florida launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
The STS-119 mission is the last major assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and, thus, is especially important to NASA and the world's space agencies.
After having to scrub its Thursday night launch, NASA engineers and technicians worked over the last two days to identify and fix the vent line problem.
The seven-inch-wide line vents flammable hydrogen gas away from the orbiter during the launch phase of the mission. The vent line falls away from the external fuel tank (ET) just after liftoff of the orbiter.
NASA personnel were able to discover the cause of the problem on Saturday: a misaligned Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) with respect to the external tank (ET), the large fuel tank positioned under the body and wings of the orbiter (as it stands vertical on its launch pad) and between the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
Engineers and technicians repaired the GUCP problem by inserting pins to properly align it with respect to the ET.
Mike Moses, head of the NASA Mission Management Team, after the repair was finished, stated,
"I think we're in really good shape.” And, Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director, stated,
"We feel really good and we're really excited about launching tomorrow.” [United Press International: “
Space shuttle on target for launch“]
The launch of NASA mission
STS-119 with the seven-member crew of the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled for 7:43 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Sunday, March 15, 2009.
Page two contains information where you can watch the live launch of STS-119, along with additional information on the ISS Expedition 19 mission and the Russian Soyuz TMA-14 mission.
