- \n
- STS-134 LIVE UPDATES<\/li>\n
- L2 STS-134 Special Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cCompleted the landing gear functional. The ET (External Tank) door BRI (tile) mod is in work with some prefits. The BLT (Boundary Layer Transition) mod continues,\u201d noted KSC Integration on the Shuttle Standup\/Integration report (L2).<\/p>\n
\u201cContinuing with the NLG (Nose Landing Gear) TPS evaluations with Mylar pulls. Payload premate testing continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/a24.jpg\" "\\"a24\\"")
Endeavour and her team have the weekend off, as engineers finalized the installation of the three Flow Control Valves (FCVs) \u2013 which have performed well since the STS-126 incident \u2013 into the orbiter\u2019s Main Propulsion System (MPS), ahead of retests next week.<\/p>\n\u201cOV-105 (OPF Bay 2): MPS Flow Control Valve LV58 installation was completed; leak checks worked with electrical retest planned for Monday,\u201d added the NASA Test Director (NTD) processing status (L2).<\/p>\n
Technology News
<\/path>Spaceflight news subscription <\/path>SpaceX launch tickets <\/path>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
\u201cPayload pre-mate test was successfully completed. Payload 1553 data bus checkout (complete). Window 7 (ceramic) insert R&R (removal and replacement) has begun. Window 7 installation is scheduled for Tuesday. Weekend Work: None scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Endeavour can also look forward to the start of SSME installation operations next week, with Main Engines (MEs) 2059, 2061 and 2057 manifested to aid the orbiter\u2019s ride uphill next year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a busy period for the SSMEs, with Discovery\u2019s installation, and subsequent removal \u2013 due to an issue with a turbopump on ME-1 \u2013 followed by reinstallation, taking place recently, added to the removal of Atlantis\u2019 engines, following her STS-132 mission.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/A316.jpg\" "\\"A3\\"")
While it is a routine procedure to fully inspect the engines \u2013 both before and after removal from the orbiter \u2013 engineers will attempt to find the root cause for the hundreds of streaks in Atlantis\u2019 SSME plumes, observed by ground cameras during early first stage flight.<\/p>\nAlready, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne\/KSC (Kennedy Space Center) have confirmed one leak-related observation during initial checks. However, it should be stated that as with the observed streaks, Atlantis\u2019 engines enjoyed no safety or performance issues during powered flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSSME (Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne\/KSC) Last week, removed the engines from OV-104 (Atlantis) post-flight STS-132. Those engines are back in the engine shop, going through nozzle tube leak checks,\u201d added the latest Standup report.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Engine 2052, which was in position 1, had some cold wall leaks found after completion of tube leak checks. This explains one of the observations where the film showed a frost area, just above the aft manifold on Engine position 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), both Endeavour\u2019s External Tank (ET-138) \u2013 located in High Bay 2E (HB-2E), and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) \u2013 being stacked in High Bay 1 (HB-1), are undergoing the business end of their flows ahead of mating.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/c2.jpg\" "\\"c2\\"")
ET-138 \u2013 the last \u201cnew\u201d tank to be shipped from the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) \u2013 is now undergoing the installation of its Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), which had caused scrubs during both STS-119 and STS-127\u2019s tankings.<\/p>\nPart of the solution involved a new two-piece flight seal being installed into the hardware, which gained a mention for ET-138, as a Problem Report (PR) noted this tank\u2019s GH2 seal is being replaced.<\/p>\n
No specifics on what caused the PR to be called have been mentioned in flow documentation, although it appears the issue was spotted during the routine \u201cshakedown\u201d inspections in the VAB\u2019s checkout cell.<\/p>\n
\u201cET-138 (VAB HB-2E): GUCP Installation: PR on seal change out is in work. LO2 & LH2 Preps for checkout are in work,\u201d noted the NTD report, adding status on the early stacking work that has taken place on the boosters. \u201cSRB BI-145 \/ RSRM 113 (VAB HB-1): Left Aft Center segment stacking is complete. Post Ops & Leak Checks are in work.\u201d<\/p>\n
STS-134 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-134\/<\/p>\n
RCS Test Article Failure:<\/p>\n
The Orbiter Project at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) are continuing evaluations into a failure of a RCS test article at the White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in New Mexico.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/A415.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
The test article, also known as the \u201cfleet leader\u201d, is one of multiple elements of orbiter hardware, which undergo a large amount of testing, to the level that wouldn\u2019t be possible in an OPF environment. Only part of the RCS fleet leader remains since its debut in 1989, following the retirement of the Forward Reaction Control System (FRCS) element in 2006.<\/p>\n\u201cIn June, there was a firing of the RCS fleet leader unit at WSTF that experienced an unplanned controlled shutdown,\u201d noted the opening Standup report note. \u201cInitial troubleshooting of that fleet leader thruster has been completed, and it was discovered that they were not able to maintain pressure in the injector chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cBorescope inspections revealed an apparent breach behind the injector, possibly at the weld. This event is being looked at closely. History data is being gathered on this thruster, and the (Program) is discussing the events of the test to determine what steps to take next.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/A58.jpg\" "\\"A5\\"")
The status of the failure was updated on the latest Standup report, following an Orbiter Project Office (OPO) tag up on Wednesday. During the meeting it was confirmed the test article suffered from a large crack in the aforementioned weld.<\/p>\n\u201cThe RCS Community provided a status of the investigation into the unexpected controlled shutdown of an RCS test article that was fired in June. The team has completed their initial evaluation of the test article, which led them to identify a large crack in a weld that is between the closeout of a fuel manifold and the injector,\u201d added the update.<\/p>\n
As part of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) due diligence approach, further investigations will take place on the test article, ahead of any decision to inspect the related hardware on all three orbiters in the fleet. In a few weeks, engineers will complete their findings, and decide if there\u2019s any commonality of failure risk related to the orbiters. Until then, inspections on the fleet will not be required.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team has pulled in the larger community to define the next step to evaluate that crack. They have defined a plan that includes CT scans as well as destructive evaluation,\u201d added the latest status report. The team has developed an initial thought tree and will be maturing it over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have been evaluating the history of failures that might be similar, as well as the history of this particular part. They will continue to provide a regular status as they let the data lead them through the evaluation. They will also be evaluating whether this instance is applicable to the fleet or just related to what happened to the test facility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Engineers are preparing Endeavour for next week\u2019s installation of her three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) for what is likely to be the final time, ahead of STS-134\u2019s mission in February of next year. Meanwhile, an investigation is currently taking place into a failure of a Reaction Control System (RCS) test article, although no inspection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[9189,3366],"class_list":["post-40707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-rcs","tag-sts-134"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40707"}],"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=40707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}