**The most comprehensive collection of STS-117 onwards related presentions and mission documentation \u2013 not available anywhere else on the public net \u2013 are <\/em>available to download on L2<\/em> <\/em>**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Atlantis STS-117 \u2013 ET repair latest**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Endeavour STS-118 (LON-318) Processing**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-122 (LON-322) Processing**<\/em><\/p>\n Related Notes and Presentations on L2, including: New FAWG Manifests \u2013 Post ET Damage. Daily Ops Reports. NASA and Lockheed Martin Presentations on the ET damage (VAST AND DAILY), plus new images and many downloadable presentations. ET Manifest (Lockheed Martin) ET-117 Production Milestone Presentations, \u2018through to\u2019 STS-124 Baseline Mission Presentations, plus more,<\/font><\/em> available to download on L2.<\/em><\/p>\n Space Technology (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n **Previous articles on the damage events: Article 1 \u2013 Article 2 \u2013 Article 3 \u2013 Article 4 \u2013 Article 5 \u2013 Article 6 \u2013 Article 7 \u2013 Article 8** Click for more screenshots of the damage.<\/p>\n <\/font>**FREE 100mb video of the NASA ET Damage press briefing** \u2013 required to login to forum.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Article during the Summit from this morning \u2013 confirmed post media call: \u2018On Wednesday, they will discuss ET repair efforts,\u2019 summarized shuttle manager Wayne Hale\u2019s notes on the latest stand-up\/integration report. \u2018Other projects affected by hail should attend and summarize where we are.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018At the PRCB (Program Control Requirements Board), (we) will have detailed review of the appropriation of the baseline plan as if were going to use ET-124, with on the order of 45 days of repair work in VAB, and proceeding to launch sometime in early May. A series of TIMs (Technical Interchange Meetings) have provided the preliminary technical discussion on the repair techniques. <\/p>\n NASA administrator Mike Griffin and assistant administrator Bill Gerstenmaier called for the senior management level review of ET-124 repairs, for the purpose of finalizing the approach for STS-117, with the options ranging from proceeding with repairs \u2013 currently being carried out on the tank, or to swap with ET-117 \u2013 which is set to arrive at KSC next month. A tank swap \u2013 classed as unlikely at this stage \u2013 would delay STS-117 to June. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We are faced with the discussion of whether will we be able to repair this tank,\u2019 added Hale\u2019s notes. \u2018Will we get to a point where we can repair the tank and make the launch window, or do we need to move to the next tank when it arrives at KSC, take ET-124 offline, do longer duration repairs, and proceed to a late June launch window? <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018The launch window is still in work. This will be part of the discussion with the senior level management. Really have to get story together to present to senior level management.\u2019<\/p>\n Hopes that the data would be complete to the point where a definitive plan was available for a new launch date decision was dismissed by a NASA HQ memo, which noted: \u2018The repair work is proceeding on the STS-117 external tank. There will be a briefing today to senior agency management, to discuss the forward work plan. There will be no decisions made on the new launch date during this meeting.\u2019 <\/p>\n Also, a series of presentations that are being viewed by today\u2019s summit point to a range of opinions on whether ET-124 is repairable to the level required for safe flight. \u2018There will be a repair risk impact to STS-117, the extent of which is yet to be determined,\u2019 claimed the Repair Risk Assessment Summary presentation. \u2018Conditional probabilities (risk level as a function of time) are calculated for repairs because of the unknown release time. The failure mechanism(s) have not been determined to the point of accurately characterizing the release time or amount of debris liberated<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018The highest repair risk is from repairs made to the LO2 tank. The greater the mass and release rate, the higher the risk. Depending on the mass size, a single release from the LO2 tank can have very high risk level if the repair liberates at the worst possible time.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n Another presentation, NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC)\u2019s STS-117 Hail Damage Repair Assessment Project Status, called for more tests to be carried out on ET-124, for the purpose of confirming non-standard repairs can be completed successfully.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018Recommendations: Perform additional crushed foam testing on panels with simulated hail damage. Use (special) panels sprayed with foam thickness representative of high damage area away from the nose cone BX-265 repair<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018Impact panels in such a manner as to simulate STS-117 hail damage. Inspect and repair panels using the same techniques, processes and criteria. Expose panels to hot gas ascent heating conditions to assess the potential for foam loss.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n NASA is hosting a media call this evening to discuss the status of the repair and assessment effort, although at this stage \u2013 with the meeting still ongoing \u2013 it appears managers will note they need to continue their assessments.<\/p>\n <\/font>Further articles will follow. Please refer to the live update pages on L2 (for NASA presentations, memos, emails and images) and on Atlantis\u2019 section (open to all)<\/em>. **INFINITY: 10 minute STS MUSIC VIDEO**<\/font><\/em><\/font> \u2013 **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA and contractor engineers\/managers have met to evaluate the latest data and presentations relating to the repair of ET-124 \u2013 which was damaged by a hail storm last month. The meeting evaluated the problems related to the non-standard repairs required on the tank, and the subsequent timeline of returning the stack to flight status \u2013 […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-41767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41767"}],"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=41767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/u><\/em>
While most documentation currently points to the NET (No Earlier Than) May 11 launch target, information that is being presented to the summit points towards the requirement for more data, before a new schedule can be confidently produced. However, the opportunity to launch in April isn\u2019t possible \u2013 as reported by this site two weeks ago.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>**Ride home through the fire and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis on STS-115 \u2013 And now also with Discovery on STS-116 \u2013 TWO Stunning high quality 2hr, 355mb videos \u2013 from deorbit burn to post landing**<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/em>(Video section is FREE, but you need to sign up as a member of the forum to enter the video section of the site. We only use your e-mail to send you your password. It will not be used for spam etc.)<\/em><\/font><\/em><\/p>\n