By Michael Rutschky
Published on November 21, 2007
After a meeting held on Dec.9 to assess the faulty fuel sensors of space shuttle Atlantis, mission managers at Kennedy Space Center have decided to not launch the shuttle within it’s December launch window. The shuttle was set to launch earlier that morning, but the proceedings were cancelled when it’s engine cut-off sensors failed a series of simulated tests.
The delay means that mission STS- 122, in which the shuttle delivers a new laboratory module to the International Space Station, can be initiated no sooner than Jan. 2, 2008. Mission managers will keep the shuttle at it’s launch pad while various tests are carried out to isolate the problem.
“All of our efforts are going to be, first of all, to do some troubleshooting… to try and capture this failure,” said LeRoy Cain, chair, mission management team.
In the meantime, the flight crew of mission STS-122 will be returned to Houston, Texas. Although there is less than three years left in the space shuttle program, mission managers are confident that the delay of mission STS-122 will in no way hinder the completion of the International Space Station’s construction.
“The team is disappointed, but highly motivated… to get [mission STS-122] back into a launch posture,” said Doug Lyons, space shuttle test director.
The troublesome electrical failures happen intermittently during the filling of the liquid hydrogen fuel tank. On the morning of Dec. 9, at about three minutes after a sequence of simulated tests to the sensors, a failure of the third sensor was declared. Due to revised launch criteria that was commissioned after the original launch day was postponed, if a failure of any of the four sensors was noticed the shuttle was not to launch. After the launch was aborted mission managers used the rest of the day for tanking tests.