Crack found in Columbia's engines
Posted: Wed, Jul 3, 2002, 8:48 PM ET (0048 GMT)
Engineers have found at least one crack in flow liners in the engines of shuttle Columbia, the third orbiter where such cracks have been discovered. NASA officials confirmed late Tuesday that one crack had been found in a flow liner of a liquid hydrogen line in Columbia's main engines; the crack was described as similar in size to those previously found in the engine assemblies in Atlantis and Discovery. Investigations of Columbia's engines are expected to continue into next week, and studies of how the cracks formed and how much of a threat they post to shuttle safety are ongoing. Endeavour, which returned to the Kennedy Space Center last weekend, will also be inspected. NASA has made no statement regarding what impact the flow liner problem will have on the schedule of upcoming launches, but in the worst case the entire fleet could be grounded for months while repairs of the orbiters' engines are made.
Engineers have found at least one crack in flow liners in the engines of shuttle Columbia, the third orbiter where such cracks have been discovered. NASA officials confirmed late Tuesday that one crack had been found in a flow liner of a liquid hydrogen line in Columbia's main engines; the crack was described as similar in size to those previously found in the engine assemblies in Atlantis and Discovery. Investigations of Columbia's engines are expected to continue into next week, and studies of how the cracks formed and how much of a threat they post to shuttle safety are ongoing. Endeavour, which returned to the Kennedy Space Center last weekend, will also be inspected. NASA has made no statement regarding what impact the flow liner problem will have on the schedule of upcoming launches, but in the worst case the entire fleet could be grounded for months while repairs of the orbiters' engines are made.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, September 15
Elon Musk's Starlink reports service outage, thousands of users affected
Reuters — 1:23 am ET (0523 GMT) What does the loss of U.S. Space Command mean to Colorado Springs?
Denver Post — 1:21 am ET (0521 GMT) SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman Cargo Ship To ISS
Aviation Week — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) Apollo 13 made Jim Lovell a legend generations after the space race
The Hill — 1:09 am ET (0509 GMT) |
