Endeavour’s fuel tank drained; NASA expects to reach heaters this afternoon

Posted by brandoniswrite on August 26, 2010

NASA reported a few minutes ago that technicians have finished draining the external fuel tank on space shuttle Endeavour, which allows them to then get to the area on the orbiter that has the malfunctioning hydraulic system fuel line heater. They expect to reach that compartment by mid-day today.

That should allow engineers to be able to get to the heart of the problem that caused Friday’s scrubbing of Endeavour’s launch for the mission STS-133. If the heater malfunctioned because of a faulty thermostat, that’s a pretty easy fix and NASA should be able to get it ready in time to reschedule the launch for Monday at 2:34 p.m. If the problem traces back to a load control system switchbox, that would take considerably longer and the delay could be several days, perhaps another week.

NASA expects to announce its findings, and a firm date for the next launch attempt,  in a briefing Sunday morning.

The Write Stuff – Orlando Sentinel

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