KENNEDY SPACE CENTER <<...OLE_Obj...>> SHUTTLE & PAYLOAD PROCESSING STATUS REPORT Monday, January 6, 2003 (4:30 p.m.) 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/>. ORBITER MAJOR MODIFICATION PERIOD VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103 Shuttle Processing Note: An engineering evaluation continues following the discovery late last year of a surface crack in a ball associated with a tie rod assembly inside of a 17-inch liquid oxygen line aboard Discovery. The crack was found during standard Orbiter Maintenance and Modification (OMM) inspections. The crack is located on a 2.25-inch diameter metal ball associated with the Ball Strut Tie Rod Assembly (BSTRA) inside Discovery's 17-inch liquid oxygen line. Further inspections of similar assemblies in Discovery's 17-inch and 12-inch lines have found no cracks. Inspections of Atlantis and Endeavour also have found no cracks. Tests using spare BSTRA ball assemblies are under way as part of the engineering evaluation and are not expected to be completed until later this week at the earliest. The ongoing evaluation has had no impact on shuttle launch preparations. 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: S0007 Launch Preparations began today at Pad 39-A for Shuttle Columbia's Jan. 16 launch on the Spacehab microgravity research mission. The astronauts and pad workers successfully completed the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Today orbiter aft closeouts are in work along with preparations for the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit installation, Module Vertical Access Kit storage operations, Mass Memory Unit flight load and Orbiter Midbody Umbilical Unit mate and leak checks. Ordnance is scheduled later this week. No inspections are planned on Columbia related to the BSTRA ball crack evaluation. - more - 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. Today, heat shield installation continues in work as does preparations to install the Forward Reaction Control System. As part of the analysis under way regarding the crack found in the BSTRA ball on Discovery, technicians completed an inspection of Atlantis' lines and found no cracks. With those inspections complete, all three Space Shuttle Main Engines were installed and leak checks are complete. The Crew Equipment Interface Test is also complete. 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. Throughout the holidays, work continued with waterproofing operations, structural inspections of the orbiter's leading edge and the Forward Reaction Control System. Removal of the Forward Reaction Control System was also completed. Checkout on the Orbiter Maneuvering System Pod is in work as is MEC/PIC verification. Preparations for fuel cell single cell voltage test are also in work. Inspections of the BSTRAs continue 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. -- 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 .
