spacetoday.net: Shuttle launches delayed until September

Posted: Sat, Jul 13, 2002, 12:35 PM ET (1635 GMT)
Shuttle main engine inspection (NASA/KSC)

The next space shuttle launch will not take place until at least mid-September as engineers figure out the best way to deal with cracks found in flow liners throughout the shuttle fleet, NASA announced Friday. Shuttle managers said they now believe that the cracks have a single root cause unrelated to age, as similar cracks have been found in flow liners for hydrogen fuel lines in all four orbiters regardless of their ages. Officials said they don't know if the cracks do pose a safety problem, although in theory if the cracks expanded, pieces of material could break off and inject themselves in turbopumps, shutting down the engines during flight. NASA is looking into solutions that would involve repairing rather than replacing the flow liners, since spare parts are not available and replacement would involve many additional months of delays. When the problem is resolved NASA has made no decision about what flights would launch in what order. Three missions are scheduled for the remainder of the year, including a non-ISS science flight by Columbia and ISS missions by Atlantis and Endeavour.