May Still Make October 23 Launch Date Despite Delays

Just in case you didn't know... these guys are good. NASA technicians may have avoided a delay in next month's launch of the shuttle Discovery, after they beat the clock and repaired four seals on the orbiter's right maingear strut Wednesday.

As ANN reported, NASA crews began repairs to the leaky strut Tuesday, disassembling the problem component and troubleshooting the problem. Workers wrapped up repairs far ahead of schedule, reports Florida Today.

"Right now, we're still targeting October 23. That's not off the table," said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel. "We didn't encounter any glitches while we were putting it back together. There's nothing else we think would pop up."

Crews will now conduct tests of the repair, a process expected to be wrapped Saturday.

"The next step is testing," said Tracy Yates, spokesman for the United Space Alliance, which handles shuttle launch prep duties at Kennedy Space Centerd. "It'll take a matter of days."

If those tests don't show any further problems, NASA could move Discovery into the Vehicle Assembly Building early next week, to be mated to its external fuel tank and soild rocket boosters. That process will take about a week.

NASA only has a five-day launch window for Discovery, and the strut repair could have put the team behind by about that much. NASA may just beat the clock, though... as technicians are working extra-hard to make up for lost time.

"They're working parallel (tasks) and they can get caught up," Beutel said.

Discovery is scheduled to deliver the 21-foot Harmony connector node to the International Space Station.

(ANN thanks NASA's Jack Pfaller for the maingear strut photo)

FMI: www.nasa.gov