NASA Says Launchpad Damage Shouldn't Impact Shuttle Schedule

By Nancy Atkinson - June 16, 2008 at 9:33 PM UTC | Missions
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About 5,300 special heat-resistant bricks broke off a flame trench wall of launchpad 39 A at Kennedy Space Center during the space shuttle launch on May 31, hurling some bricks more than 1,800 feet. Engineers assessing the damage said on Monday they are confident the flame trench can be repaired in time for NASA's next mission, the Oct. 8 launch of shuttle Atlantis on a flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA allowed journalists to survey the damage to the pad, as well as a heavily damaged security fence around the pad perimeter, with bricks scattered across a wide area around the pad.

The flame trench diverts exhaust to flow out both sides of the launchpad. The missing bricks exposed an irregular area of the concrete wall measuring roughly 20 feet by 75 feet. New bricks cannot be manufactured in time to support the Hubble mission, but engineers believe the trench can be repaired by stripping away additional bricks around the damage area, erecting a steel mesh framework and then spraying on a thick coating of a heat resistant covering.

NASA still does not know exactly what caused the flame trench to come apart and why it broke now, after decades of use. The launch pads were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s for the Saturn rockets that sent the Apollo missions to the moon.

The space agency is inspecting its other launch pad, 39 B, to see whether it, too, has flaws. Both launchpads will be needed for the Hubble mission, as a second shuttle needs to be ready to go, as post-Columbia flight guidelines require a backup shuttle to serve as a recue ship for any mission not going to the International Space Station, where the crew could take refuge if any damage occurred that would prohibit the shuttle from landing.

Previously, NASA said, the worst damage to a launch pad was the loss of 800 bricks from the flame trench at Pad B during Challenger's doomed liftoff in 1986.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com