Atlantis to launch today with fuel cell issue unresolved
NASA has ruled that a problem with Space Shuttle Atlantis’s number one fuel cell is not a danger to the mission and the agency is preparing to launch the Shuttle at 11:41 today from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) near Orlando, Florida.
The mission, STS-115, is an assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS), during which astronauts will carry out three extra-vehicular activities to install the P3/P4 trusses for the ISS’s new solar arrays.
Yesterday NASA Space Shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale said that the mission management team’s vote to fly on Friday was nearly unanimous. The fuel cell vendor had dissented because it only wanted to fly with “a pristine” cell.
Hale explained that the pump on the fuel cell was 30 years old and that the Shuttle programme had obtained 10,000h of operation from Orbiter cells without any major problems.
The Shuttle has three fuel cells for Orbiter onboard power and can conduct a mission with two and even operate on one, although that is not acceptable.
STS-115 was to launch on 27 August but tropical storms delayed it to 6 September.
NASA’s weather officers are predicting a 30% chance that climatic conditions at KSC today will prohibit launch. This percentage has remained the same since Wednesday.
The primary concerns are cumulus clouds or isolated thunderstorms in the area, which will prohibit a launch if they are within 20km (10.8nm) of KSC.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
