In the Payload Changeout Room, Launch Pad 39B, United Space Alliance and NASA workers look at the replacement main propulsion system liquid hydrogen recirculation line (left) to be installed in Shuttle Discovery's aft compartment. At right is the dented line that has been removed. The 12-inch-long dent was discovered during routine aft compartment inspections Tuesday, Dec. 7. The line recirculates hydrogen from the Shuttle main engines back to the external tank during prelaunch engine conditioning. The line is being replaced and managers expect the replacement work to take about 3 days, followed by system retests and final aft compartment close-outs. Preliminary assessments reflect a launch date of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-103 no earlier than Dec. 16. STS-103 is the third servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope KSC-99pp1403
Summary
In the Payload Changeout Room, Launch Pad 39B, United Space Alliance and NASA workers look at the replacement main propulsion system liquid hydrogen recirculation line (left) to be installed in Shuttle Discovery's aft compartment. At right is the dented line that has been removed. The 12-inch-long dent was discovered during routine aft compartment inspections Tuesday, Dec. 7. The line recirculates hydrogen from the Shuttle main engines back to the external tank during prelaunch engine conditioning. The line is being replaced and managers expect the replacement work to take about 3 days, followed by system retests and final aft compartment close-outs. Preliminary assessments reflect a launch date of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-103 no earlier than Dec. 16. STS-103 is the third servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
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