spacetoday.net: Shuttle pad repairs to be completed before next launch

Posted: Tue, Jun 17, 2008, 6:20 AM ET (1020 GMT)
STS-124: flame trench damage (NASA/KSC)

Repairs to a shuttle launch pad damaged during the most recent launch will be repaired well before the next mission, NASA managers said Monday. A section of a wall in the flame trench of pad 39A was damaged during the May 31 launch of shuttle Discovery, as bricks lining the wall were flung hundreds of meters away. Engineers were still studying options for repairing the 22.5-by-6-meter section of wall where the bricks came off, but believed the damage could be repaired by late August, when Atlantis will be rolled out to the pad for an early October mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Engineers are inspecting a twin pad, 39B, that must also be in good condition to support the next shuttle launch since that pad would be used for a rescue shuttle in the event of a problem with Atlantis.