- \n
- STS-135 Updates<\/li>\n
- L2 STS-135 Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The historic rollout event was witnessed by a huge crowd of fans, media and members of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) workforce, as the Crawler Transport departed from High Bay 1 (HB-1), just hours ahead of Endeavour\u2019s landing at the nearby Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF).<\/p>\n
\u201cV1149 Orbiter\/ET cavity purge was completed on Friday. A5214 Rollout to Pad A: VAB E and B platforms were retracted Friday. VAB D platform retraction is currently in work (since completed),\u201d noted the NASA Test Director (NTD) report on Tuesday morning (L2).<\/p>\n
\u201cRollout CTS (Call To Stations) is scheduled for tonight at 1600 EDT with MLP first motion at 2000 EDT.\u201d<\/p>\n
STS-135 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-135\/<\/p>\n
Engineers also completed work on the only Interim Problem Report (IPR-38) of late, relating to Bus Monitoring Unit (BMU) \u2013 a data monitoring device attached to several of the orbiter\u2019s systems (of the electrical bus).<\/p>\n
Company News
<\/path>NASA educational resources <\/path>Space Shuttle <\/path>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
\u201cIPR 135V-0038 BMU update: Troubleshooting isolated the noise to the 189 housing. The 189 housing was R&R\u2019d (Removed and Replaced). Retest of the 50 percent calibration was nominal,\u201d added the NTD report. \u201cAll channels were stable. Engineering will verify data during S0009 and re-perform the S0008 BMU Data Verification.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/A418.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
Preparations for Atlantis\u2019 arrival at Pad 39A continued either side of the long weekend, with the final pad turnaround work \u2013 following Endeavour\u2019s STS-134 launch \u2013 and waves of tanker trucks ferrying in the LH2 and LOX which will be loaded on to the STS-135 tank, ET-138.<\/p>\nIt was thanks to both the good condition of Pad 39A \u2013 and the issue-free turnaround of the complex \u2013 which avoided STS-135 slipping into the middle of July, as some managers had expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cPad A: Pad turnaround operations continue. Two waves of tankers for LH2 storage tank replenishment were completed Friday. SCAPE operation for hyper flowmeter R&R was completed early Friday morning,\u201d updated the NTD. \u201cLOX vaporizer weld repair was completed Friday. Four waves of tankers for LOX storage tank replenishment are scheduled for today (Tuesday).\u201d<\/p>\n
Normally, the LH2 and LOX would be loaded on to the tank on launch day. However, a Tanking Test in the middle of June will be conducted, based on ensuring ET-138 does not suffer from the cracked stringer problem observed on its related ET-137.<\/p>\n
Click here for numerous articles on the ET Stringer issue: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/et\/<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/A45211.jpg\" "\\"A4521\\"")
Those cracks were observed on ET-137\u2019s LO2 Flange TPS foam area, at the top of the intertank, during Infra Red camera observations on the tank, as it was being offloaded due to a scrub caused by a leak of its Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP).<\/p>\nOnce the tank was inert, and closer observations were made, a decision was taken to remove the foam, revealing a number of cracks on the actual stringers themselves. Following an instrumented Tanking Test, the STS-133 stack was rolled back to the VAB for the replacement of the cracked stringers, and the implementation of a radius block modification, designed to strengthen the stringers during both tanking and the ascent environments.<\/p>\n
This modification worked as advertised, with no issues observed on ET-137 during tanking and ascent. This success was key, with one of the main threats of a cracked stringer during ascent relating to the potential of foam liberations during first stage flight, liberations which hold the threat of damage to the orbiter\u2019s Thermal Protection System (TPS).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/A691.jpg\" "\\"A691\\"")
As a result, the modifications were made to ET-122 and ET-138, the latter of which is of greater focus, due to the close production dates and the potential ET-138 may have been fabricated with the same suspect stringer lot as ET-137, which was shown to suffer from a \u201cmottled\u201d material, which weakens the strength of the stringers.<\/p>\nWith ET-138 fully examined in the VAB via Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) X-rays, along with the installation of radius blocks around its circumference, it is highly unlikely Atlantis\u2019 tank will suffer from any issues. However, the Tanking Test will be used to confirm the tank is ready for launch day.<\/p>\n
Following the Tanking Test, engineers will use borescope cameras to check STS-135\u2019s ET\/SRB attach points are in a nominal configuration, after an unidentified piece of debris was caught on ascent footage during STS-134\u2019s SRB separation.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/A326.jpg\" "\\"A3\\"")
Inspections have already taken place in the VAB, although access was limited, leading to the Engineering Review Board (ERB) opting against delaying the rollout, instead calling for inspections to take place once the vehicle has arrived at the pad.<\/p>\n\u201cThe ERB met Friday morning to discuss the results of the additional inspections that were performed as a result of the debris concerns regarding the object seen after SRB separation on STS-134,\u201d noted the NTD report, which also focused on any potential leads into the actual STS-134 debris.<\/p>\n
\u201cThus far inspections in the VAB and at Pad A have not revealed any missing hardware that could have contributed to the debris.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngineering is still evaluating high wind data that could have liberated hardware at the pad during the event. The going forward plan is to investigate the possibility of getting more focused BCI photos at the pad.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of the final SRB inspections, the team plans to perform borescope inspections of the -Z side of crossovers from the forward skirt platforms. Both operations (BCI Photos and Borescope Inspections) will be performed after the Tanking Test and prior to S0007 (Launch Countdown).<\/p>\n
Engineers will also carry out some initial borescope inspections as early as Thursday or Friday this week at Pad 39A, based on available access.<\/p>\n
(Images: L2, NASA.gov. Further updates on STS-135\u2019s status will be provided as information arrives, driven by L2\u2019s new and expanding STS-135 Special Section.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Atlantis kicked off what was a historic evening for the Space Shuttle Program (SSP), as she rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) \u2013 with first motion at 8:42pm local time. Now at the pad, she will be put through a nominal pad flow, prior to a Tanking Test on ET-138, to be followed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3659],"class_list":["post-40437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sts-135"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}