Weather threatens shuttle Discovery launch
Posted on: Sunday, 2 July 2006, 05:03 CDT
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Thunderstorms threatened NASA's plan to launch space shuttle Discovery on Sunday on a mission critical to the future of the shuttle program and the half-built International Space Station.
NASA forecasters predicted a 70 percent chance that weather would delay the launch, as it did a planned launch on Saturday. Flashes of lightning were visible before dawn at Cape Canaveral, where the Kennedy Space Center is located.
No other problems were noted at the center, as U.S. space agency workers began the process of filling the shuttle's massive fuel tank with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Launch is set for 3:26 p.m. (1926 GMT).
The flight is only the second since the 2003 Columbia accident, and another disaster or serious problem likely would end the program. NASA is hoping to fly 16 more missions to finish building the $100 billion space station before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.
"We can't control the weather and we have very strict rules. We're not going to launch this vehicle unless it's safe to do so," said launch director Mike Leinbach.
Shuttle safety has been at the forefront of the program since the Columbia disaster, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts. NASA has twice redesigned the shuttle's fuel tank, which triggered the accident.
The agency's top engineer and chief of safety wanted more repairs on the tank before Discovery was launched, but were overruled by NASA administrator Michael Griffin.
Griffin decided to fly without the additional repairs, arguing that in the unlikely event foam falls again from the fuel tank and damages the shuttle, the crew could stay aboard the space station and await rescue.
BUILDING THE SPACE STATION
Delaying the launch, Griffin added, would have put more pressure on the shuttle program, which must finish building the space station before the shuttle fleet is retired. No other vehicles can deliver and install the station's remaining trusses, solar arrays and laboratories.
The agency plans two more flights this year and about four per year thereafter until the station is completed and the fleet is retired.
NASA had hoped to resume space station construction last year, but the shuttle's fuel tank failed its first test flight. Engineers then removed two long wind deflectors from the tank, which had shed foam during Discovery's 2005 liftoff.
Additional work is pending on foam covering 37 metal brackets.
Work on the space station has been on hold for nearly four years while the shuttles were grounded for repairs.
In addition to proving the new tank design, Discovery's mission will pave the way for NASA to resume station construction as early as September, when a new set of trusses and solar arrays are scheduled to arrive.
The Discovery crew must fix the station's rail cart, which was shut down in December after it severed cables needed for power, data and video transmissions.
The cart, which operates on tracks on the outside of the station, is used to haul equipment to various work sites.
The shuttle also carries a new crew member for the station, which has been short-staffed since 2003 to save on supplies while the shuttles were grounded.
Source: REUTERS
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