Posted on 08/08/2005 4:24:38 PM PDT by KevinDavis
And thank you for your great part in the very neat experience that you've kindly shared with us all. Go Dash!
HUGS!
Back atcha and good morning, D.
From SpaceflightNow.com:
1318 GMT (9:18 a.m. EDT)
The Atlas 5 launch team knew what happened but not the cause of this morning's liquid hydrogen fueling problem, prompting the countdown to be scrubbed to further investigate the trouble before trying to boost NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on its way to the Red Planet.
"We had gotten liquid oxygen loaded into both (Atlas and Centaur) stages, and as we were getting into automatic loading of liquid hydrogen into the Centaur we had the propellant load system showing that the sensors were dry when some of the screens and the data that we were getting was showing wet. So we had a discrepancy there," explained NASA launch manager Chuck Dovale.
"We backed out of that and went into a troubleshooting mode. (It) wasn't really clear what the cause was. One option we were going to do was override the automatic software and load manually just to a percentage (of the tank level) to see if our troubleshooting steps were heading in the right direction. Subsequent to that, additional software then locked us out of that manual loading.
"So we got ourselves into a condition where we were not quite sure what the cause was and we felt that we didn't have enough time in the window to pursue it any further. So we are currently in a detanking mode and we'll continue troubleshooting and hopefully resolve that and be able to attempt tomorrow."
The rocket will remain on the launch pad as the team presses ahead with a 24-hour countdown recycle for liftoff at 7:43 a.m. EDT (1143 GMT), if the hydrogen system issue can be fixed in time.
Laying aside for the moment that she is courageous and skillful, she appears to me to be a non-stop talker and dreamer. I smell hints of naive liberalism.
Remember, you read it here first.
Leni
If the NASA employee mentioned is like most of us, she hasn't had a political thought of her own in her life unless she has attended a local city council meeting and was rocked back on her heels with a 'What the h*** is going on here' event. That's what it takes, a personal experience with gov't. Otherwise it's nighty-nite, keep the tax cut flowing and sweet dreams forever.
Bump.
In other 'big rocket' news from SpaceflightNow.com:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2005
Europe's Ariane 5 rocket proved up to the task this morning as it flew into space to deliver the world's heaviest commercial communications satellite that will extend high-speed broadband Internet services to the the most remote locales in the most populated region on Earth.
SpaceflightNow.com on MRO:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2005
Launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been officially reset for Friday morning. The launch team will start a fresh countdown this evening, leading to liftoff at 7:43 a.m. EDT (1143 GMT).
I remember my first "live thread" was the election night 2004.
That was AMAZING to come home from a long day - and have so many people to share that experience -- GREAT!!!!
My second live thread was the Oscars. I used to have a party at my house every year - but have moved so often - I don't have that luxury anymore.
I thoroughly enjoy all of our live threads.
Good call.
DD
From SpaceflightNow.com
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: August 17, 2005
Seven members of an independent review panel today blasted NASA's management of the post-Columbia shuttle program, blaming poor leadership for ongoing, pervasive "cultural" problems and an erosion of engineering rigor that raise questions about the agency's willingness to fly without a thorough understanding of the risks involved.
In an "annex" at the end of the final report of the Return to Flight Task Group, led by former Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford and former shuttle commander Richard Covey, seven of the 26 panel members wrote a scathing set of personal observations detailing "persistent cultural symptoms we observed throughout the assessment process."
"What our concerns about rigor, risk and requirements point to are a lack of focused, consistent, leadership and management," the panel members wrote. "What we observed, during the return-to-flight effort, was that NASA leadership often did not set the proper tone, establish achievable expectations, or hold people accountable for meeting them. On many occasions, we observed weak understanding of basic program management and systems engineering principles, an abandonment of traditional processes, and a lack of rigor in execution.
"Many of the leaders and managers that we observed did not have a solid foundation in either the theory or practice of these basic principles. ... NASA's early successes are rooted in program management techniques and disciplines that few current managers in the human spaceflight arena have been willing to study. As a result, they lack the crucial ability to accurately evaluate how much or how little risk is associated with their decisions, particularly decisions to sidestep or abbreviate any given procedure or process.
worth a bump?
Nice pics--where were they taken?
Edwards Air Force Base on the day she took off to go home.
I have friends in interesting places.
;-)
Great pictures. I can never tire of looking at 'em. Thanks! :o)
The mate-demate facility at Dryden is a pretty cool place. I popped down to it when I was visiting Edwards for a shuttle landing.
Thanks for the pics. :-)
p.s. When I was at the Cape, the Shuttle flew in on the back of the 747. Everyone dropped what they were doing, including me LOL, (I was working at SAEF-II at the time) and rushed outside to see.
It's all good. I just love NASA!
;-)
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