 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
KSC FL (SPX) Oct 25, 2010 The countdown is on: NASA has only two shuttle launches left. The U.S. space agency is retiring its shuttle fleet next year and encouraging the development of commercial human spaceflight vehicles. Space shuttle Discovery is set to launch November 1 Last week, engineers found that Discovery had developed a fuel leak. John Shannon, the space shuttle program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas, says engineers have the situation under control. "We had a very small leak in the plumbing at a flange fitting, and the team has been working that very hard over the last week," Shannon told reporters Thursday. "We did some troubleshooting on it, and it looked like the leak stopped." Discovery will be carrying astronauts on an 11-day mission. It will be the 35th shuttle mission to the International Space Station, or ISS. Dan Hartman is the space station's integration and mission operations manager. He said Discovery will deliver a final piece to the U.S. segment of the ISS - the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module. "We've upgraded it and have it ready for its long duration stay on station." Hartman said. "It'll be our final module that we bring up to the International Space Station." The new module will provide additional research and storage space. NASA says Discovery has flown into space more than any other craft, with 38 trips and 352 days in orbit. Discovery has traveled more than 230 million kilometers and circled Earth 5,628 times since it was first launched in 1984. The Discovery shuttle has been part of countless milestones, too. It carried the first woman to ever pilot a spacecraft, the oldest person to fly in space, the first African-American to perform a spacewalk, the first cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. spacecraft and the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space. Discovery will end its career carrying another history-making "passenger" - Robonaut2, the first humanoid robot to fly in space.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links station at NASA Shuttle at NASA Shuttle at NASA Watch NASA TV via Space.TV Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
Seal Replacement Work Begins On DiscoveryKSC FL (SPX) Oct 21, 2010 Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have begun preparations to replace two seals for a fuel line, which had been leaking, for shuttle Discovery's orbital maneuvering system engines. Crews will pump out propellants already inside the tanks and will replace the primary and secondary seals at a flange located at the interface where two propellant lines meet in the shuttle's ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
