KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SHUTTLE & PAYLOAD PROCESSING STATUS REPORT Thursday, Dec.19, 2002 (3 p.m. EST) For the latest Shuttle status on the web visit <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/stsstat/current.htm>. For the latest weather forecast visit <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/weatstat/forecast.htm>. Visit <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm> for the latest schedule of future Shuttle missions. KSC press releases can be found at <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/release.htm>. The KSC home page can be found at <http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/>. VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103 Shuttle Processing Note: An engineering evaluation continues following the discovery of a surface crack found during standard Orbiter Maintenance and Modification (OMM) inspections on Discovery. The crack, located on a 2.25-inch diameter metal ball, is associated with the Ball Strut Tie Rod Assembly (BSTRA) inside Discovery's 17-inch liquid oxygen line. Further inspections of Discovery's 17-inch and 12-inch lines have found no cracks, although the inspections of Discovery have not been completed. Testing on BSTRA balls began late this week and will continue through the holidays. Results of these tests will not be known until after the holidays, in early January. MISSION STS-107 -SPACEHAB/FREESTAR MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH MISSION VEHICLE - Columbia/OV-102 TARGET LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 16, 2003 TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. TARGET LANDING DATE: Feb. 1, 2003 MISSION DURATION: 16 days CREW: Husband, McCool, Anderson, Chawla, Brown, Clark, Ramon ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 150 nautical miles/39 degrees Shuttle Processing Note: Pre-launch preparations continue at Pad 39-A for Shuttle Columbia's Jan. 16 launch on the Spacehab microgravity research mission. Hypergolic loading is complete, and the crew is participating in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test today and tomorrow. No inspections are planned on Columbia related to the BSTRA ball crack evaluation. MISSION STS-114 -- 17TH ISS FLIGHT (ULF1) - CREW ROTATION/MULTI-PURPOSE LOGISTICS MODULE VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104 TARGET LAUNCH DATE: March 1, 2003 TARGET LANDING DATE: March 13, 2003 MISSION DURATION: 12 days SHUTTLE CREW: Collins, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson ISS EXPEDITION CREW 7: Malenchenko, Kaleri, Lu ORBITAL ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles, 51.6 degrees Shuttle Processing Note: Atlantis continues to be processed for its March launch to the International Space Station. The Payload Premate Test is complete and work has begun to test the Power Reactant Storage and Distribution system and perform leak checks on the Main Propulsion System and Space Shuttle Main Engines. As part of the analysis under way of the crack found in the BSTRA ball on Discovery, technicians completed an inspection of Atlantis' lines and found no cracks. MISSION STS-115 -- 18th ISS FLIGHT (12A) ? P3/P4 SOLAR ARRAYS VEHICLE - Endeavour/OV-105 TARGET LAUNCH DATE: May 23, 2003 TARGET LANDING DATE: June 3, 2003 MISSION DURATION: 10 days CREW: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean, Stefanyshyn-Piper ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles/51.6 degrees Shuttle Processing Note: Deservicing and processing continues for the STS-115 mission to the International Space Station scheduled in May 2003. Forward Reaction Control System checkout is complete and technicians have begun checking Endeavour's Orbital Maneuvering System pods. Inspections are under way of the BSTRAs on Endeavour to gather data to be used in the analysis of a crack found in an assembly on Discovery. The inspections of Endeavour have found no cracks so far. Inspections of the 17-inch liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen lines have been completed. Inspections of the 12-inch propellant lines will not begin until after the holidays, in early January. -- end -- ------------------------------------------------------------- For automatic email subscriptions to this KSC originated press releases, send an Internet electronic mail message to mailto:ksc-news_release-subscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov. With no subject or message. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. To remove your name from the list at any time, send an email addressed to mailto:ksc-news_release-unsubscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov . With no subject or message. or you can (un)subscribe on the World Wide Web at: http://kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov/ Status reports and other NASA publications are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm .
