Tue, May 03, 2011
Faulty Load Control Assembly Box Must Be Replaced, Tested
NASA space shuttle and International Space Station managers met
Monday and determined that Tuesday, May 10 is the earliest
Endeavour could be launched on the STS-134 mission. That date is
success oriented based on preliminary schedules to replace a faulty
Load Control Assembly (LCA) box in the orbiter's aft
compartment. NASA technicians and engineers identified the
LCA as the likely source of what caused heaters on a fuel line for
space shuttle Endeavour's auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1) to fail on
Friday, scrubbing the first launch attempt for the STS-134
mission.
Plans are for managers to reconvene Friday to determine a more
definite launch date after the box is removed and replaced and the
retest of systems has been completed.
Space Shuttle Program managers adjusted the date after further
evaluating the schedules to change out the box and retest the nine
shuttle systems associated with the controller. That work would be
followed by the standard closeout of the aft compartment before
proceeding into the launch countdown.
Sunday night and Monday, technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center's Launch Pad 39A conducted additional testing of systems
associated with LCA-2, including testing the box itself, which is
expected to be removed late Monday or early Tuesday and replaced
with an existing spare.
Managers will continue to evaluate the repair process and make
any additional adjustments before scheduling Endeavour's next
launch attempt for its STS-134 mission to the International Space
Station.
The STS-134 crew is back in Houston and remains in quarantine
throughout as it slowly adjusts its wake and sleep schedule to
match the new launch time. While at NASA's Johnson Space Center,
the crew will conduct a launch and landing simulation with its
ascent and entry flight control team based in Mission Control,
before returning to Florida for the launch countdown.
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