yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (03/02/90)
KSC SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT - THURSDAY, MAR. 1 - 10:30 AM STS-31 - DISCOVERY (OV 103) - OPF BAY 2 Preparations are underway to roll Discovery over to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Monday about 9 a.m. Today, tech- nicians are scheduled to determine the orbiter's weight and cen- ter of gravity and close out the orbiter's elevons. Tomorrow, Discovery will be attached to the orbiter transporter. This weekend, workers will finish closing out the elevons and conduct leak checks for flight. While in the VAB, Discovery will be mated to the external tank and solid rocket boosters and a test of the critical connec- tions will be conducted. Rollout to Launch Pad 39-B is targeted for March 16. The Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to be transferred to the pad on March 26 and installed in Discovery's payload bay on the 28th. STS-35 - COLUMBIA (OV 102) - OPF BAY 2 Orbiter systems testing is continuing to prepare Columbia for the upcoming STS-35 mission in May. Operations scheduled today include servicing the orbiter with potable water, a crew hatch functional test, leak and functional testing of the water spray boilers, leak checks of the elevon cove area, and checks of the main propulsion system. The Astro payload is scheduled to be installed in Columbia's payload bay the middle of the month. STS-36 - ATLANTIS (OV 104) - LAUNCH PAD 39-A Launch Pad 39-A sustained minimal damage from the launch of Atlantis yesterday at 2:51 a.m. EST. The pad was washed down last night and the mobile launcher platform is scheduled to be trans- ferred to the refurbishment site near the VAB. The solid rocket boosters are expected to arrive at Hangar AE on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station early this afternoon. The motor cases will be disassembled and returned to Thiokol for refurbishment. The aft skirts and frustums will be refurbished at the USBI plant here KSC.
andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andy Clews) (03/02/90)
From article <43998@ames.arc.nasa.gov>, by yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee): > Launch Pad 39-A sustained minimal damage from the launch of > Atlantis yesterday at 2:51 a.m. EST. The pad was washed down last > night [...] As a matter of interest, what sort of damage does the launch pad normally sustain? What kinds of repair work are usually needed to the pad after Shuttle launches? What is the contamination that requires the pad to be "washed down"? Is the launch pad contaminated by toxic materials (e.g. from SRBs) when launch has finished? Sorry for all the questions! Kind of let myself go there..... -- Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, England JANET: andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: andy%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac