Sun, Mar 04, 2007
Crews Will Inspect Hail Damage
Fingers are crossed at NASA, as crews prepare to roll back the
space shuttle Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building in order to
better assess damage caused by a storm last
week. Roll back is currently targeted for Sunday morning.
As Aero-News reported, the
STS-117 vehicle stack is returning to the VAB so engineers and
technicians can thoroughly inspect the shuttle for hail damage that
resulted from a violent storm on Monday evening. Once inspections
are complete, a decision will be made on the type of repair
necessary and the time needed for that work.
On Thursday, workers at the pad offloaded the fuel and oxidizer
from the orbiter maneuvering system tanks. Crews opened the
orbiter's payload bay doors, and work was underway Saturday to
remove the payload from the cargo bay. Demating of the shuttle from
the pad systems continued through Saturday, with rotation of the
pads' rotating service structure scheduled for early Sunday
morning.
Earlier in the week, the Space Shuttle Program managers met for
a two-day STS-117 Flight Readiness Review. During this meeting
managers and engineers review risks associated with the mission and
determine whether the shuttle's equipment, support systems and
procedures are ready for flight.
At the conclusion of the FRR, there was a unanimous decision to
proceed with the STS-117 mission, pending resolution of the open
work to make necessary repairs to the hail damage on the
shuttle.
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