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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