Structural Crack Found on Shuttle Tank

By Nancy Atkinson - November 10, 2010 at 1:41 PM UTC | Space Exploration
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The chances of space shuttle Discovery launching on the STS-133 mission in 2010 could be in jeopardy. Cracked foam on the shuttle's external tank was removed early Wednesday morning and underneath engineers found a structural crack on the tank itself. The serpentine crack is about 22 cm (9 inches) long and is located on a structural rib or "stringer." Cracks like this have appeared on other tanks and were fixed at the production facility in New Orleans. But this type of repair has never been attempted at the launch pad.

Engineers are also working to pin down the cause of a hydrogen gas leak, which forced NASA to call off the launch last week. The next launch window opens November 30 and closes December 6. But with the hydrogen leak work still ongoing, and given the uncertainties of the crack, it seems unlikely Discovery could be ready to go within that time frame.

The website

NASASpacefight.com

said similar repairs have been done by "removing the cracked aluminum and replacing it with a "doubler," which is a twice-as-thick stringer section before replacing the foam insulation." But again, this has only been done at the production facility.

Former shuttle launch director Wayne Hale

posted a comment on NASA Spaceflight.com,

saying the crack was troubling. "Not only does this most likely have to be repaired - and that could be difficult," Hale wrote, " but understanding the root cause of the problem and developing flight rationale are going to be very difficult. I am thinking that a launch this calendar year is in jeopardy. Good luck to the team, if anybody can solve it the folks at MAF, MSFC, and the other centers can do it. I hope I am being overly pessimistic and this turns out to be simple; but right now it doesn't look like it."

Discovery's mission to the International Space Station will bring a new storage module and the first humanoid robot, Robonaut 2, or R2 to the station

Source:

NASASpaceflight.com

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