Trouble coming home?
Atlantis has done it’s job delivering some solar sails to the ISS, and all has gone reasonably well for this mission (barring a brief glitch in the station’s oxygen supplier that created a tiny toxic spill). Read more
Atlantis has done it’s job delivering some solar sails to the ISS, and all has gone reasonably well for this mission (barring a brief glitch in the station’s oxygen supplier that created a tiny toxic spill). Read more
The astronauts are strapping in for their fifth attempted launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. For once, things are looking up, the engine cut off sensor problem appears to be well in hand, and the weather, thus far, is cooperating. Read more
It’s a sign of just how cautious NASA has become that they decided to stand down today. The questionable engine cut-off sensor was one of four that are used to shutdown the engine if the hydrogen fuel runs low. The shuttle needs just two of its four sensors working, and the whole cut-off system itself is a backup: the navigational computers typically turn things off automatically at the right altitude and speed. Even if they don’t, Atlantis carries an extra 300 kilos of hydrogen to prevent the engines running dry. Read more
Sensor glitch keeps Atlantis grounded. Read more
Mission managers scrubbed at T minus 9:00 minutes to further evaluate bad hydrogen engine cut off sensor. They’re resetting for a launch 24 hours from now. We’ll likely have a press conference later today to update us on the status of the questionable sensor. Read more
The Atlantis is fuelled, the weather is good, the crew is strapped in, but will Atlantis fly? Mission managers are still trying to work out whether they can go with only three of their four engine cut off sensors. Read more
Complicating the launch plans is the apparent failure of one of four hydrogen engine cut-off sensors on the shuttle’s main fuel tank (that’s the big orange one). Mission managers will now need to decide whether to launch with only three sensors, or scrub for 24 hours. Read more
Mission managers made the case today for launching on Friday, despite the partial failure of a motor used to cool one of the Atlantis’s three fuel cells. The motor is still operational, but any further problem would cause it to shutdown. Astronauts would then have about ten minutes to shut off the entire cell before some presumably very bad would happen. Read more
We don’t know the details just yet, but they just announced that they would attempt a launch tomorrow at 11:41AM. We’ll hear more in the press briefing in 20 minutes. Read more