GUPC Alignment Tweaked, Fuel Tank Foam Repairs Proceeding
Space Shuttle Discovery continues to wait at launch complex 39A
at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL, as technicians
work to prepare her for her final mission into space.
NASA File Photo
Over the weekend, additional measurements were taken to ensure
the best possible alignment of the newly installed ground umbilical
carrier plate, or GUCP, on space shuttle Discovery's external fuel
tank. Teams installed the flight seal Friday night and will meet
today to evaluate data. Technicians expect to begin installing the
quick disconnects today (Monday).
Engineers also are continuing work to repair cracks in
Discovery's external tank intertank section. During foam removal
and inspection of adjacent stringers to the one with two 9-inch
cracks, technicians identified a crack about 3-inches long on the
left-hand adjacent stringer. This was not an unexpected result
since the load was most likely transferred to the adjacent stringer
when both sides of the original stringer cracked during tanking
operations for Discovery's scrubbed launch attempt on Nov. 5. Teams
will build and use existing structural math models to understand
the loading at the interface. Stringers are aluminum support strips
on the outside of the external tank that form the section between
the inside liquid oxygen tank and the liquid hydrogen tanks.
Discovery's launch was delayed when the leaking GUPC was
discovered. The cracks in the foam insulation on the main fuel
tank were found during the GUPC inspection. The
shuttle is now targeted for launch on a mission to ISS on November
30. It will be Discovery's final space flight.
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