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Space Forum / Shuttle / June 2007Edwards and Shuttle landing
Will the fact that Atlantis landed at Edwards have any impact on the scheduling of upcoming flights ? From the time Atlantis arrives back at KSC, how much time does it really take to process it to be ready to go to the VAB ? Is the maintenance cycle so long that a one week delay would impact its readiness to act as backup to STS120 in October ? And in terms of Endeavour, would it be fair to state that the vehicle has bene ready for some time ? Is it already in the VAB, fitted to an EF and SRBs ? If NASA really wanted, how soon could it launch it if it decided to go ahead tomorrow ? Would last week of July be realistic ? Will NASA do anything special to protect the ET from hail ? > Will the fact that Atlantis landed at Edwards have any impact on the > scheduling of upcoming flights ? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Will NASA do anything special to protect the ET from hail ? No, partly and no. :-) Brian  SignatureBrian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email. graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ >> Will the fact that Atlantis landed at Edwards have any impact on the >> scheduling of upcoming flights ? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> >> Will NASA do anything special to protect the ET from hail ? > No, partly and no. > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > - Show quoted text - They said they build in enough time in their processing timeline to accomodate an Edwards diversion.. if they land at KSC that become bonus time - so no impact on the schedule for STS-122. Hail protection - about all you can do is hope there isn't any, the Rotation Service Structure doesn't cover the top of the ET. Endeavour's on track for an August 9th launch> > Hail protection - about all you can do is hope there isn't any, the > Rotation Service Structure doesn't cover the top of the ET. > Endeavour's on track for an August 9th launch> Seems that the brunt of the damage came at the very top of the ET where the ice would impact at its terminal velocity speed (while on the sides, the impact would be far less, dictated by wind speed puching hail onto the side of ET). Couldn't they just put some srt of large plastic bag over the top of the ET until just a day before launch when they start to need access to fuel the ET ? Is there any crane on top of the launch pad that could hoist some fibreglass "hat" that would go on top of the ET to protect it ? > john2...@hotmail.com wrote: > > Hail protection - about all you can do is hope there isn't any, the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Is there any crane on top of the launch pad that could hoist some > fibreglass "hat" that would go on top of the ET to protect it ? Why should they do that? This was a freak, once-in-a-decades kind of hail storm that is not very likely to occur again in the remaining 3 year lifetime of the shuttle program. Making a big fiberglass cap or other cover requires time and expense that simply is not justified with only a few years left, and has it's own potentially hazardous risks. -Mike Maybe they should just put a big dunce cap on it. :-/ >> john2...@hotmail.com wrote: >> > Hail protection - about all you can do is hope there isn't any, the [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > risks. > -Mike >Is there any crane on top of the launch pad that could hoist some >fibreglass "hat" that would go on top of the ET to protect it ? I believe the hammerhead cranes were removed from the launch pad several years ago. > And in terms of Endeavour, would it be fair to state that the vehicle > has bene ready for some time ? Is it already in the VAB, fitted to an EF > and SRBs ? You know, you can easily look all this up under the shuttle updates at NASA's shuttle website, or subscribe to the KSC news email updates. -Mike |
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