Shuttle tank leak apparently fixed

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Pat Flannery - 03 Jul 2009 12:37 GMT

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/s
hutfix070209.xml&headline=Shuttle%20Fuel%20Leak%20Appears%20To%20Be%20Fixed
The knob stuck by the window panel on Atlantis is still causing problems
though.
Has anyone thought of running a jeweler's saw wire around it and cutting
it if half so it would come loose?
You could pick up the filings from the sawing with a vacuum tube placed
near the knob (the sucking kind, not the glowing kind). :-)

Pat

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David M. Palmer - 03 Jul 2009 16:40 GMT

> http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news
> /shutfix070209.xml&headline=Shuttle%20Fuel%20Leak%20Appears%20To%20Be%20Fixed
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> You could pick up the filings from the sawing with a vacuum tube placed
> near the knob (the sucking kind, not the glowing kind). :-)

They got it out. Somebody stuck their hand in and grabbed it.
<http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/06/atlantis-window-pane-begins-longerons-dam
aged-accident/>
(Along with pressurizing the orbiter and using dry ice.)

They still have to check whether it did any damage.

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David M. Palmer dmpalmer@email.com (formerly @clark.net, @ematic.com)

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Pat Flannery - 03 Jul 2009 21:00 GMT

> They got it out. Somebody stuck their hand in and grabbed it.
> <http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/06/atlantis-window-pane-begins-longerons-dam
aged-accident/>
> (Along with pressurizing the orbiter and using dry ice.)
>
> They still have to check whether it did any damage.
>

From now on, stuff like that should be on lanyards attached to the
equipment it's used with.

Pat

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Rick Jones - 03 Jul 2009 22:37 GMT

In sci.space.history Pat Flannery <flanner@daktel.com> wrote:

> From now on, stuff like that should be on lanyards attached to the
> equipment it's used with.

And people wonder why spaceflight can be so "high touch."

rick jones

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I don't interest myself in "why." I think more often in terms of
"when," sometimes "where;" always "how much." - Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

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Pat Flannery - 04 Jul 2009 07:26 GMT

> And people wonder why spaceflight can be so "high touch."
>

I was thinking about this, and a good rule of thumb might be to
consider: "Would you design it this way if it was going to be used by
scuba divers?"
And of course you wouldn't, because anything that detaches can either
float off or sink.
So either nothing completly detaches or it's on a tether of some sort.
I'm amazed they got all of those 100+ screws out of and back into the
HST on the last repair mission without having them end up floating all
over LEO,. considering that their gloves aren't the most agile things in
the world to work with. :-)

Pat

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Jeff Findley - 06 Jul 2009 16:30 GMT

> I was thinking about this, and a good rule of thumb might be to consider:
> "Would you design it this way if it was going to be used by scuba divers?"
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> LEO,. considering that their gloves aren't the most agile things in the
> world to work with. :-)

That's because they were able to design a cover to put over it which had
holes in it big enough to undo the fasteners but small enough that the
fasteners couldn't come out of the holes. They didn't have to rely on
catching the screws by hand.

Jeff

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"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
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OM - 06 Jul 2009 18:28 GMT

>That's because they were able to design a cover to put over it which had
>holes in it big enough to undo the fasteners but small enough that the
>fasteners couldn't come out of the holes. They didn't have to rely on
>catching the screws by hand.

...Not that difficult. Just make the diameter of the hole half the
distance between the outermost diameter of the screw threads and the
inner post, then turn the screws in. There's a couple of other tweaks
to pop the attachment away from the base, but that's the basics behind
the concept.

OM

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bob haller - 05 Jul 2009 14:42 GMT

> > They got it out. �Somebody stuck their hand in and grabbed it.
> > <http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/06/atlantis-window-pane-begins-lo...>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Pat

too many lanyards floating around will turn into a spider web.

obviously parts should be built so they cant get between things

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Brian Thorn - 03 Jul 2009 20:42 GMT

>The knob stuck by the window panel on Atlantis is still causing problems
>though.

It's out now. You're running a couple of days behind the news, Pat!

Brian

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Space Forum / Space History / July 2009

Shuttle tank leak apparently fixed