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**L2 STS-115 Coverage: ALL related handbooks, from Final Flight Plan to Robotics to EVA Presentations (620mb of 115 presentations downloadable) NOW INCLUDING: STS-115 Rendezvous Handbook**<\/font>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/font><\/font>Refer to live update thread for up to the second updates.<\/font><\/p>\n Background information collated from a vast amont of documenation and images relating to Flight Day 3\u2019s imagery and MMT evaluations, available on L2.<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n \u2018Yesterday there was a question on focused inspection, when we have to add a day to the flight plan between EVA-1 and EVA-2, but we do not need to have that day,\u2019 noted Shannon. <\/font> <\/p>\n \u2018We were able to clear the leading edge and nose cap, plus all the tile areas, and the engineering\/orbiter team found no issues to want to go back and take a second look at any areas. <\/font><\/p>\n Originally tagged as \u2018critical\u2019 \u2013 the Gap Filler, protruding out of the Port ET umbilical door isn\u2019t actually a Gap Filler at all, instead it\u2019s a Shim Stop, a piece of plastic used to protect tiles, when new ones are being installed inside the OPFs (Orbiter Processing Facility).<\/p>\n \u2018For the Gap Filler work, the team went down two parallel paths,\u2019 Shannon added. \u2018The first was to look at all the installation records, the other was to do the thermal analysis required to clear it. It was a kind of curious thing to look at the installation records, as there were no Gap Fillers in that location, as well as on the baseline imagery. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018From that, they took a closer look at the colour of the Gap Filler, noticed it was a strange colour \u2013 and looked like it was a little bit melted \u2013 and they then came to the conclusion that this was not a Gap Filler, it\u2019s what\u2019s called a Shim Stop.<\/p>\n The Shim Stop should have been removed before Atlantis launched last weekend, but given its position on the ET Door, it would have been likely impossible to spot after she had been mated with the External Tank.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018It is just a piece of high visibility plastic, which are installed when we put a new tile, to ensure you have the right clearance \u2013 that you\u2019re not pushing against other tiles up against one another, which are not glued in \u2013 they are just placed in there by orbiter technicians. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018That is what we\u2019re seeing on the ET door.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n The concern was dropped after it was confirmed the Shim Stop will simply burn away before re-entry. However, after due diligence, it was evaluated that even if this had been a Gap Filler, it would not have required removing by a special EVA, as seen on STS-114.<\/p>\n \u2018This is not an issue at all. It\u2019s sticking out just a little bit. Since it is plastic, it will melt really easily, after tests were run, which show it will soften at 250 degrees Fahrenheit and melt at 450 degrees Fahrenheit,\u2019 said Shannon. \u2018It will see that melting environment about seven minutes before we hit mach 25 \u2013 before we hit entry interface, by which time it will be long gone, so we\u2019re not worried about it. <\/font><\/p>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n \u2018We took the thermal analysis to conclusion anyway \u2013 and good news to report on that side as well, because even if this was a Gap Filler we would have been able to come in.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018It was just a miss by the team. We had a Shim Stop fall out in-between the Main Engines on STS-121 (with Discovery), so we sent the team to ensure we had pulled them all out of Atlantis, but the ET doors were already up and latched and we did not drop those doors to take a look for Shim Stops \u2013 so we learnt something there, and when we fly Endeavour, we will check that.\u2019<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018The other piece was the blanket on the right OMS pod, and we zoomed in on pictures taken from the International Space Station (ISS) \u2013 and it\u2019s no issue at all.\u2019 <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We were able to clear the whole of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) in 60 hours. My best estimate was five days \u2013 which is 120 hours \u2013 so we did it in half the time,\u2019 Shannon said in praise of the team responsible.<\/p>\n \u2018That just shows how better the processes are at being able to support the program.\u2019<\/p>\n **DETERMINED STS-115 MUSIC VIDEO**<\/em> \u2013 <\/em><\/font> **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/em><\/font><\/p>\n <\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA have managed to clear Shuttle Atlantis\u2019 Thermal Protection System (TPS) in just 60 hours \u2013 half the time Shuttle manager John Shannon had budgeted for. The crew of Atlantis were given the news that they have a clear bird during Tuesday\u2019s EVA-1, although analysis did find some interesting conclusions to some previous concerns. **L2 […]<\/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-41941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41941"}],"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=41941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}**STS-115: LIVE COUNTDOWN AND LAUNCH Update Page** \u2013 **Flight Day 2** **Flight Day 3** **Flight Day 4 ** **Flight Day 5** <\/font><\/font>
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Key Points\/Newsflashes: To follow at start of Flight Day 5.<\/p>\n\u2018However, we did have two questions for the team. One was on the gap filler on the Port ET door, and the other was on a blanket, where a small piece of it was puffed out on the right OMS pod. The team didn\u2019t need additional data, but they went off to work those two problems \u2013 and I\u2019m happy to say they are both resolved.<\/p>\n
Rounding up what is another clean ascent, post-Columbia, Shannon noted the other area of interest, a puffing of a thermal blanket on the right OMS (Orbital Manoeuvring System) pod. Although no new MMT (Management Mission Team) updates have been posted on the previous notes of concern relating to the two engines, showing what appears to be stains from hydraulic fluid \u2013 they both appear to be working without any problems.<\/font><\/p>\n
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