Delayed!
Darnit.
All of this week shuttle Discovery has been having issues. First a leak that had to be repaired, then weather grounded it yesterday, and now today while fueling the external tank hydrogen began to leak. This kind of fuel leak is an explosive hazard, and has delayed earlier launches. The TV reports have been hinting that this one was bigger than those earlier ones, so that's an easy call to scrub today.
In addition, while looking for cause of the leak someone discovered a crack in the foam insulation that surrounds the tank, and ice had formed beneath it. I don't know if it mattered, but it rained all day here yesterday. It may have been a fortuitous leak that allowed the discovery of another dangerous issue.
Now the final launch of Discovery has been delayed to no earlier than December. This will also push all of the other flights back further. NASA is trying to keep them to a regular resupply schedule, and not cram them all close together. They could pull that off with assembly, but not with regular resupply.
I'm a little disappointed. I was looking forward to a launch this week. I'm sure the remaining workers have mixed feelings. I know that I would be having them. I won't be around a lot of December so I really hope that it does launch on one of the few days that I'll be able to see it.
All of this week shuttle Discovery has been having issues. First a leak that had to be repaired, then weather grounded it yesterday, and now today while fueling the external tank hydrogen began to leak. This kind of fuel leak is an explosive hazard, and has delayed earlier launches. The TV reports have been hinting that this one was bigger than those earlier ones, so that's an easy call to scrub today.
In addition, while looking for cause of the leak someone discovered a crack in the foam insulation that surrounds the tank, and ice had formed beneath it. I don't know if it mattered, but it rained all day here yesterday. It may have been a fortuitous leak that allowed the discovery of another dangerous issue.
Now the final launch of Discovery has been delayed to no earlier than December. This will also push all of the other flights back further. NASA is trying to keep them to a regular resupply schedule, and not cram them all close together. They could pull that off with assembly, but not with regular resupply.
I'm a little disappointed. I was looking forward to a launch this week. I'm sure the remaining workers have mixed feelings. I know that I would be having them. I won't be around a lot of December so I really hope that it does launch on one of the few days that I'll be able to see it.