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\u201cSSME heat shield installations continue this week. CEIT (Crew Equipment Interface Test) was completed over the weekend. Main Landing Gear (MLG) wheel and tire assembly installations were completed Monday night,\u201d noted the latest NASA Test Director (NTD) processing report (L2).<\/p>\n
No new Interim Processing Reports (IPRs) have been added of late, although an update to one of the first issues noted after returning from STS-131 (IPR 0005) \u2013 relating to the erratic measurements on the upper left antenna \u2013 will require further troubleshooting, after thermography on suspect connectors showed no anomalies.<\/p>\n
Three inverters \u2013 used to convert the DC power generated by the fuel cells into AC power for use by a number of orbiter systems \u2013 were also successfully removed and replaced over the weekend, after they were initially charged as IPR 0001, due to the problem observed with a voltage increase on the H2 Pump Motor Condition on Fuel Cell 2 during STS-131.<\/p>\n
\u201cInverters 4, 5, and 6 removal and replacement was worked Saturday and continued Monday,\u201d added the NTD report, before updating with: \u201cInverter replacement was completed by (end of Monday).\u201d<\/p>\n
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Another STS-131 related issue was the troublesome helium isolation valve on the Right Reaction Control System (RRCS).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/B2.jpg\" "\\"B2\\"")
Thanks to confidence in the downstream regulators on the system, the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) cleared Discovery to launch, as opposed to rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for demating, and a subsequent rollback to her OPF for the Right OMS Pod to be removed.<\/p>\nInstead, managers deferred the work to her post STS-131 flow, with the Pod \u2013 which contains the RRCS valves \u2013 demated and sent to the HMF a month ago, where the faulty valve was removed and sent for evaluations into the root cause of its pad flow problems.<\/p>\n
Sporting a new valve, the Right OMS was returned to OPF-3 on the back of a flatbed truck, arriving in the OPF early on Tuesday morning. \u201cInstallation pre-ops\u201d began on Monday, which will allow for the Pod to be re-installed on to Discovery\u2019s aft on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Over in High Bay 3 (HB-3) of the VAB, the mated Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and ET (ET-137) continue to undergo closeout work, while technicians prepare to carry out repair work on a foam chip on the Aft Fairing closeout.<\/p>\n
\u201cSRB BI-144 \/ RSRM 112 \/ ET-137 (VAB HB-3): L\/R Insta Foam closeout; LH\/RH (Left Hand\/Right Hand) foam preps are complete, foam cart set up is complete. L\/R Plunger installation is complete less paint on order,\u201d added the NTD report. \u201cL\/R ET Aft Fairing closeout; LH PR-0024 (Problem Report) foam chip is ready to work. RH installed, ready for closeout.\u201d<\/p>\n
STS-133 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-133\/<\/p>\n
STS-134 Processing Latest:<\/p>\n
Endeavour\u2019s flow is even more relaxed, with her STS-134 mission not scheduled to launch before February. Current processing work is centered on preparing her Payload Bay (PLB) for the arrival of the AMS payload and checking the landing gear functions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPayload pre-mate testing began Monday and will complete (late Tuesday). Landing gear functional (was conducted on Tuesday),\u201d noted the NTD report, which had previously noted an issue with the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) during the checks on Endeavour\u2019s Ammonia Boiler System (ABS).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ABS fill, sample and QD (Quick Disconnect) leak checks were scheduled for Monday. However, last Friday, the GSE panel used to support filling and sampling experienced a number of small leaks. Picked up GSE IPR, disconnected the NH3 tank and depressurized the system, and performed troubleshooting. The operation will resume following GSE repair.\u201d<\/p>\n
STS-134 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-134\/<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/B3.jpg\" "\\"B3\\"")
Meanwhile, the final \u201cnew\u201d tank to have been produced at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, has arrived at KSC.<\/p>\nET-138 was given a ceremonial send off by the MAF engineers last week \u2013 most of whom were wearing the aptly titled \u201cFinish Strong\u201d t-shirts \u2013 prior to its arrival on the Pegasus barge.<\/p>\n
Towed by the Freedom Star into the VAB Turn Basin late on Tuesday, the tank will be offloaded on Wednesday and transported into a checkout cell inside the VAB.<\/p>\n
ET-122 will be the next tank to be shipped from MAF, for its role with Atlantis for what is currently the Launch On Need (LON) role in support of STS-134, known as STS-335.<\/p>\n
However, that mission may yet change call signs into STS-135, should approval to fly the mission to the International Space Station (ISS) receive approval next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following a month of repair work inside the Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF), Discovery\u2019s Right Orbital Maneuvering System (ROMS) Pod has returned to Discovery\u2019s Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-3) for re-installation on Thursday. Meanwhile, STS-134\u2019s External Tank (ET-138) \u2013 has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). STS-133 Processing Latest: Discovery is in great shape to make […]<\/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":[9021,9051,3366],"class_list":["post-40715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-et","tag-sts-133","tag-sts-134"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40715"}],"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=40715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}