Frankie's blog: "NASA STS-119 Latest News"

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:02:05 PM PDT Today's scheduled 4 p.m. EDT status meeting to discuss yesterday's scrub of space shuttle Discovery was cancelled. Based on all of the work done over the last 24 hours, teams believe they have sufficient understanding of the hydrogen leak to continue toward a Sunday launch at 7:43 p.m. A Launch Day minus one (L-1) Mission Management Team meeting has been scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:50:18 AM PDT Technicians will take their first up-close look this afternoon at the gaseous hydrogen vent line that began leaking during the countdown to Wednesday night's launch attempt. The leak prompted a postponement of the STS-119 launch of space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Shuttle managers and engineers will meet at 4 p.m. today to evaluate the plan to troubleshoot the leak. Today's inspection could set a course for repair options that would allow another launch attempt as soon as Sunday. Discovery's astronauts remain at Kennedy Space Center. They're spending today reviewing their mission objectives, monitoring developments arising from yesterday's launch scrub, spending time with their families at crew quarters and making phone calls to family and friends.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:08:16 PM PDT Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach said Wednesday that workers will take their first up-close look Thursday afternoon at the gaseous hydrogen vent line that began leaking during the countdown to Wednesday night’s launch attempt. The leak prompted a postponement of the STS-119 launch to the International Space Station. The inspection could set a course for repair options that would allow another launch attempt as soon as Sunday. Leinbach said the leak developed on the piping that runs from the fixed service structure, or launch tower, to a valve at the intertank section of the shuttle’s external tank. The pipe moves hydrogen gas away from the shuttle and to a flare stack near the launch pad that burns it away safely. He said there was never any danger to the shuttle while it was being fueled, but that the leak allowed too much gaseous hydrogen to escape the vent line.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:34:19 PM PDT NASA officials scrubbed Wednesday’s attempt at 2:37 EDT to launch space shuttle Discovery after a slight leak was detected in a gaseous hydrogen (GH2) vent line. The vent line is at the intertank region of the external tank and is the overboard vent to the pad and the flare stack where the vented hydrogen is burned off. The launch team is resetting to preserve the option of attempting a Thursday night liftoff at 8:54 p.m. EDT depending on what repairs are needed and what managers decide. The Mission Management Team is meeting at 5 p.m. today to discuss the issue.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:48:47 AM PDT The STS-119 launch was scrubbed at 2:37 p.m. EDT due to a hydrogen leak in a Liquid Hydrogen vent line between the shuttle and the external tank. The launch team is currently beginning the process of draining the external fuel tank. We'll turn around for launch attempt tomorrow at 8:54 p.m. EDT.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:10:03 AM PDT Space shuttle Discovery's external tank is being filled with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The three-hour operation began at 11:56 a.m. EDT. There still is a 95 percent chance that weather will not affect the 9:20 p.m. launch of STS-119. The forecast also is favorable at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility, Edwards Air Force Base in California and all three overseas Transatlantic sites, should an abort landing be necessary.