Shuttle Engineers Study Fuel Valve

SHUTTLE NEWS

STS-119 Commander Lee Archambault (left) and Pilot Tony Antonelli, pose for a photo in the cockpit of a NASA DC-9 aircraft prior to a Heavy Aircraft Training session at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo credit: NASA/JSC

by Staff Writers
Cape Canaval FL (SPX) Feb 05, 2009
A day after postponing the launch of space shuttle Discovery until no earlier than Feb. 19, NASA and contractor engineers are evaluating concerns about possible flow control valve damage that could be experienced during liftoff.

Particle impact tests, models and thorough discussions will take place before a shuttle meeting on Feb. 10 to decide the best way to proceed. The Flight Readiness Review that began Tuesday will resume Feb. 12 to evaluate the valve situation and potentially set a launch date for Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

The flow control valves channel gaseous hydrogen from the main engines to the external fuel tank during launch. The three valves were removed from Discovery, inspected and reinstalled in preparation for the upcoming flight.

Discovery's crew of seven astronauts are to install the last large set of solar arrays on the space station. Three sets of arrays already are installed on the orbiting laboratory and are being used to convert sunlight into electricity. Space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 crew is set to fly the S6 truss segment and install the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the International Space Station.

The S6 truss, with its set of large U.S. solar arrays, will complete the backbone of the station and provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six.

The two solar array wings each have 115-foot-long arrays, for a total wing span of 240 feet. They will generate 66 kilowatts of electricity - enough to provide about 30 2,800-square-foot homes with power.

Commander Lee Archambault will lead Discovery's crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Wakata will replace Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who will return to Earth with the STS-119 crew. Wakata will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 18 and 19, and return to Earth with the STS-127 crew.

Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station is targeted to lift off no earlier than Feb. 19.

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SHUTTLE NEWS

NASA delays Discovery mission to space station

Washington (AFP) Feb 3, 2009
The space shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed at least one week to February 19 for additional testing of a flow control valve, NASA said Tuesday.

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