The STS 97 Endeavour mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was completed with a flawless landing at the Kennedy Space Center on 11 December, ending one of the most challenging Shuttle missions attempted, and the successful installation of the 75m (245ft)-span solar arrays.
Attention now turns to further enlargement of the ISS with the addition of the 14,000kg (30,840lb) Destiny US laboratory module by the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is due for launch on 18 January on mission STS 98.
This launch date could be affected, however, by an investigation into the failure of an explosive separation cartridge in a bolt during the solid rocket booster (SRB) separation in the launch of STS 97 on 30 November. This could delay the roll-out of the orbiter Atlantis to the launch pad as NASA wants to identify the cause of the failure before committing Atlantis to the first of a possible seven ISS missions planned for 2001.
The bolt failure, which did not cause any problems during the booster separation, was possibly caused by frayed wiring in the left SRB's integrated electronics assembly. The bottom of the SRBs are attached by two bolts each to three lower struts connecting them to the external tank. The top of the SRBs are attached by a ball and socket type joint. One of the cartridges on one bolt on the lower strut failed, but a redundant detonator fired successfully. If both bolts had failed to fire, the Shuttle assembly would have spun out of control and could have disintegrated.
Source: Flight International
