Thursday, July 28, 2005
Discovery reaches orbit
In busy, hactic & exciting evening life of Lahore, just got chance to hold the remote of TV after a long time @ a friends place... repeating 'once routine' irritating activity of scaning through the numbers & numbers of channels to find out somthing of intrest, passed through Columbia's tragic launch @ CNN, [da deep impact of the mission's failure to the space exploration made me hold my fingure for a while... & the top left corner red LIVE sign was the real astonshment, as inspite of all my busyness , never thought to b tht much ignorant]
oops... Boss caling...!!! [will complete dis if got time & mode (as its my 2nd last day of ICI)]
__________________________________________
NASA grounds shuttle fleet
Published: July 27, 2005, 5:10 PM PDT
By Reuters
NASA halted future shuttle flights on Wednesday after learning that a large chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew two and a half years ago.
The falling debris does not appear to have hit or damaged Discovery, which took off Tuesday on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, the agency said.
But NASA said it would launch no more shuttle flights until its engineers could review the problem of debris falling off during blastoff.
Photos taken by Discovery's crew during launch showed the chunk of foam was missing from the fuel tank, a troubling finding because a 1.67-pound piece of foam insulation fell off Columbia's external tank during its launch on Jan. 16, 2003, and hit the ship's wing.
The damage caused Columbia to break apart as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later, killing the seven astronauts aboard.
NASA spent months changing the way foam insulation was applied to the tank and had expected to see only tiny pieces of debris come off Discovery's tank during its launch.
"Obviously we have to go fix this," a NASA spokesman said.
Astronauts aboard Discovery were still inspecting their ship for damage on Wednesday while imagery experts on the ground studied thousands of pictures and videos taken during its launch.
Previous Next NASA expects to know by Thursday whether engineers want additional inspections with the shuttle's new laser-scanning boom to assure Discovery is in good shape to return to Earth at the end of its 12-day flight.
Preliminary images found that part of a tile, a component of the shuttle's heat shield, also broke off from the area around the shuttle's nose wheel landing gear door.
The mission is NASA's first manned flight since Columbia. Discovery is scheduled to reach the International Space Station on Thursday to deliver critical supplies.
Atlantis had been scheduled to launch on the next shuttle mission in September, also on a visit to the International Space Station.
Discovery reaches orbit
Published: July 26, 2005, 8:44 AM PDT
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News
The space shuttle Discovery reached orbit on Tuesday, marking NASA's return to manned spaceflight more than two years after the Columbia shuttle disintegrated while returning to Earth.
Discovery rocketed aloft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:39 a.m. PDT, sending its seven-member crew on a mission that involves a rendezvous with the International Space Station and a range of safety tests developed after the 2003 disaster.
The early stages of the flight appeared to go smoothly. The shuttle's solid rocket boosters separated on schedule two minutes after liftoff, and a newly installed digital camera beamed live photos from the spacecraft back to the ground.
NASA said that it was finally ready for Discovery's 12-day flight. During the 29 months that the shuttle fleet has been grounded, the agency has scanned shuttle panels for cracks with ultrasound and X-rays, redesigned the external tanks, added new sensors, and created a new level of bureaucratic strata focused on mission safety.
Also, a contingency plan, dubbed "Safe Haven," would permit the seven-person crew to take refuge temporarily at the International Space Station if their orbiter vehicle were critically damaged. The station is estimated to have enough air and "consumables" for between 50 days and 60 days, though it would take about a month to launch the Atlantis shuttle on a rescue mission.
Discovery was scheduled to launch on July 13, but malfunctioning fuel sensors in the external tank pushed back the date.
Discovery's crew is scheduled to deliver a cargo container filled with supplies to the space station, perform three spacewalks, and conduct routine maintenance on the station's equipment. NASA said a "top priority" will be to inspect the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels on the leading edge of Discovery's wing for cracks.
In August 2003, a government review board reported that Columbia's break-up was caused by a piece of insulating foam that broke loose from the external fuel tank during the climb to orbit. That suitcase-size foam block slammed into the leading edge of the orbiter's wing--an area of the spacecraft subject to intense heat--and eventually weakened it enough to cause a breakup at an altitude of 40 miles upon re-entry.
Previous Next One reason for the criticism of NASA since the Columbia disaster is that the agency was warned about lack of attention to shuttle safety. A September 2001 report by outside government auditors--about a year and a half before the loss of Columbia--had raised alarms about the shuttle fleet.
"NASA still needs to fully staff areas critical to shuttle safety," the Government Accountability Office warned at the time.
Even with NASA's prelaunch preparations for Discovery, an oversight panel reported last month that the agency still does not comply with all of the recommendations made by Columbia accident investigators two years ago.
oops... Boss caling...!!! [will complete dis if got time & mode (as its my 2nd last day of ICI)]
__________________________________________
NASA grounds shuttle fleet
Published: July 27, 2005, 5:10 PM PDT
By Reuters
NASA halted future shuttle flights on Wednesday after learning that a large chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew two and a half years ago.
The falling debris does not appear to have hit or damaged Discovery, which took off Tuesday on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, the agency said.
But NASA said it would launch no more shuttle flights until its engineers could review the problem of debris falling off during blastoff.
Photos taken by Discovery's crew during launch showed the chunk of foam was missing from the fuel tank, a troubling finding because a 1.67-pound piece of foam insulation fell off Columbia's external tank during its launch on Jan. 16, 2003, and hit the ship's wing.
The damage caused Columbia to break apart as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later, killing the seven astronauts aboard.
NASA spent months changing the way foam insulation was applied to the tank and had expected to see only tiny pieces of debris come off Discovery's tank during its launch.
"Obviously we have to go fix this," a NASA spokesman said.
Astronauts aboard Discovery were still inspecting their ship for damage on Wednesday while imagery experts on the ground studied thousands of pictures and videos taken during its launch.
Previous Next NASA expects to know by Thursday whether engineers want additional inspections with the shuttle's new laser-scanning boom to assure Discovery is in good shape to return to Earth at the end of its 12-day flight.
Preliminary images found that part of a tile, a component of the shuttle's heat shield, also broke off from the area around the shuttle's nose wheel landing gear door.
The mission is NASA's first manned flight since Columbia. Discovery is scheduled to reach the International Space Station on Thursday to deliver critical supplies.
Atlantis had been scheduled to launch on the next shuttle mission in September, also on a visit to the International Space Station.
Discovery reaches orbit
Published: July 26, 2005, 8:44 AM PDT
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News
The space shuttle Discovery reached orbit on Tuesday, marking NASA's return to manned spaceflight more than two years after the Columbia shuttle disintegrated while returning to Earth.
Discovery rocketed aloft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:39 a.m. PDT, sending its seven-member crew on a mission that involves a rendezvous with the International Space Station and a range of safety tests developed after the 2003 disaster.
The early stages of the flight appeared to go smoothly. The shuttle's solid rocket boosters separated on schedule two minutes after liftoff, and a newly installed digital camera beamed live photos from the spacecraft back to the ground.
NASA said that it was finally ready for Discovery's 12-day flight. During the 29 months that the shuttle fleet has been grounded, the agency has scanned shuttle panels for cracks with ultrasound and X-rays, redesigned the external tanks, added new sensors, and created a new level of bureaucratic strata focused on mission safety.
Also, a contingency plan, dubbed "Safe Haven," would permit the seven-person crew to take refuge temporarily at the International Space Station if their orbiter vehicle were critically damaged. The station is estimated to have enough air and "consumables" for between 50 days and 60 days, though it would take about a month to launch the Atlantis shuttle on a rescue mission.
Discovery was scheduled to launch on July 13, but malfunctioning fuel sensors in the external tank pushed back the date.
Discovery's crew is scheduled to deliver a cargo container filled with supplies to the space station, perform three spacewalks, and conduct routine maintenance on the station's equipment. NASA said a "top priority" will be to inspect the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels on the leading edge of Discovery's wing for cracks.
In August 2003, a government review board reported that Columbia's break-up was caused by a piece of insulating foam that broke loose from the external fuel tank during the climb to orbit. That suitcase-size foam block slammed into the leading edge of the orbiter's wing--an area of the spacecraft subject to intense heat--and eventually weakened it enough to cause a breakup at an altitude of 40 miles upon re-entry.
Previous Next One reason for the criticism of NASA since the Columbia disaster is that the agency was warned about lack of attention to shuttle safety. A September 2001 report by outside government auditors--about a year and a half before the loss of Columbia--had raised alarms about the shuttle fleet.
"NASA still needs to fully staff areas critical to shuttle safety," the Government Accountability Office warned at the time.
Even with NASA's prelaunch preparations for Discovery, an oversight panel reported last month that the agency still does not comply with all of the recommendations made by Columbia accident investigators two years ago.
posted by Agent Akce, 8:24 AM