Report: Genesis spacecraft test skipped
Posted: Mon, Jan 9, 2006, 6:39 AM ET (1139 GMT)
Lockheed Martin engineers skipped a test that could have caught a problem with NASA's Genesis spacecraft, according to a newspaper report. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver reported Friday that an investigation board found that the company skipped a test during the assembly of the return capsule on Genesis that would have caught four switches that were installed backwards. The faulty switches prevented the capsule from deploying its parachutes as it returned to Earth in September 2004, instead crash-landing in the Utah desert. the investigation board is expected to release its final report later this month. The capsule is similar to one on Stardust, which will parachute to Earth on Sunday, also in Utah. However, the Stardust capsule was tested prior to launch, and those tests, coupled with other documentation, have led project officials to conclude that the switches were installed properly on that spacecraft.
Lockheed Martin engineers skipped a test that could have caught a problem with NASA's Genesis spacecraft, according to a newspaper report. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver reported Friday that an investigation board found that the company skipped a test during the assembly of the return capsule on Genesis that would have caught four switches that were installed backwards. The faulty switches prevented the capsule from deploying its parachutes as it returned to Earth in September 2004, instead crash-landing in the Utah desert. the investigation board is expected to release its final report later this month. The capsule is similar to one on Stardust, which will parachute to Earth on Sunday, also in Utah. However, the Stardust capsule was tested prior to launch, and those tests, coupled with other documentation, have led project officials to conclude that the switches were installed properly on that spacecraft.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, August 29
Trump announces creation of US Space Academy
The Hill — 6:31 am ET (1031 GMT) Trump Creates a Space Academy and Honors the Artemis Astronauts
New York Times — 6:31 am ET (1031 GMT) Trump signs order to create a space service academy
Task & Purpose — 6:30 am ET (1030 GMT) Trump signs executive order creating US Space Academy
Washington Examiner — 6:30 am ET (1030 GMT) Trump unveils Space Academy to rival West Point — as ISS astronaut tells prez mustache is ‘great in microgravity’
New York Post — 6:29 am ET (1029 GMT) |
