Faulty fuel valve is latest delay Discovery

by Stevie Smith - Aug 26 2009, 15:00

Seems that delayed launches caused by poor weather conditions and technical errors are becoming the norm for NASA these days. Moreover, the U.S. space administration’s ongoing efforts to get Discovery on its way have been hampered yet again by a problem with the shuttle’s hydrogen fuel supply.

With sudden thunderstorms already responsible for scrubbing Discovery’s initial launch countdown a matter of minutes before lift off on Tuesday morning, NASA had intended to wait for the weather to pass and send the shuttle on its way around 24 hours later.

However, a routine pre-flight check of Discovery’s systems during the fuelling process revealed an operational problem related to a critical ‘fill-and-drain’ valve in the vehicle’s engine compartment, which subsequently forced NASA to issue another postponement.

NASA has said it hopes conditions will be favourable for a Friday launch – further technical issues notwithstanding – and that engineers are already assessing the valve problem with a view to possibly replacing it.

However, if Discovery’s freight and supply run to the International Space Station (ISS) is not underway by the end of the coming weekend, NASA may have to push the launch into October due to the looming proximity of scheduled Japanese and Russian missions to the orbiting station.

Similar launch interference from problematic weather patterns and persistent technical issues played major contributing roles in preventing the space shuttle Endeavour from embarking on its ISS mission in July.

The Tech Herald: Thunderstorms ground Discovery moments before launch

 

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