NASA to Test Discovery's External Tank

NASA's space shuttle Discovery sits atop Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center after rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 6, 2005. The shuttle arrived at the pad in the early hours of April 7. CREDIT: NASA/KSC.

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA plans to fill shuttle Discovery's redesigned external tank at Kennedy Space Center today in a test crucial to the agency's plans to launch its first post-Columbia shuttle mission next month.

With the fully assembled shuttle perched on Launch Pad 39B, engineers expect to pump 526,000 gallons of supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the bullet-shaped fuel tank.

The test then calls for an eight-member inspection team to head out to the pad to try to spot any buildup of ice that might break free from the tank during launch and damage the shuttle. The test is aimed primarily at checking changes made to the 15-story tank after the 2003 Columbia accident.

But it also will give NASA's shuttle launch team a chance to carry out a fuel-loading operation for the first time since the disaster.

"A very important objective . . . is to run through the process of tanking, which we haven't done now for two years, and to make sure all the ground equipment -- all the plumbing -- works well," said NASA deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.

"We're going to make sure we have all of that thoroughly wrung out, and that it's all going to work, before we try to launch. We don't want to have surprises on launch day."

Columbia was lost and its crew died after a wedge-shaped piece of foam insulation broke free from the shuttle tank and blasted a hole in the ship's left wing. The breach allowed hot gas to rip the ship apart during atmospheric re-entry.

The custom-crafted foam wedge was designed to keep ice from building up on metal struts that connect the tank with the nose of the shuttle orbiter. NASA replaced the foam with heaters. The test will allow engineers to see whether they work properly.

"We've got a whole new set of thermostats and electrical circuits that apply power to those heaters, and that's all got to be checked out," Hale said.

The test is considered a key milestone in NASA's bid to return its shuttle fleet to service. If all goes well, then only standard prep work would need to be completed before launch.

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