Fuel Tank Stall May Delay Hubble Shuttle Flight

Shuttle Atlantis' August mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope might be delayed by problems with building the shuttle's redesigned external tanks.

"That possibility exists," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said. "Right now, we are still officially targeting Aug. 28, while managers do an assessment of the tank schedule."

NASA redesigned the tank to reduce foam shedding, which doomed Columbia in 2003. Incorporating design changes is taking longer than expected.

"We're now in the process of building tanks from scratch instead of modifying previously built tanks. The changes and redesigns of the (external tank) have increased the amount of work required to build tanks," said John Chapman, manager of the External Tank Project Office.

NASA needs two tanks to launch the Hubble flight. A second shuttle must be poised for a rescue launch because Atlantis could not reach the International Space Station if damaged.

Chapman would not say when the tanks would be finished.

"We are still assessing the near-term tank delivery schedule, which includes the tank for the Hubble servicing mission as well as the tank for this flight's rescue mission," he said.

Engineers are evaluating if any planned changes could be scrapped.

"Will these changes improve performance in critical areas or just add unnecessary processing time and complexity? That is under evaluation," Chapman said.

The tank for Discovery's May 25 mission is on a barge set to arrive Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA is broadcasting Endeavour's STS-123 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's shuttle mission coverage and NASA TV feed.

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