STS-114 Post-mission discussion thread.

[najab]

Since they are sending the less experienced engineers, please remind them to follow instructions:

 

[najab]

For those who are wondering what that's a picture of, it's the attach strut of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and the writing says:<br /><br />"PLACE ORBITER HERE, BLACK SIDE DOWN"<br /><br />(Lifted from: this site.)

 

[georgeniebling]

that cracks me up everytime someone drags it out ... thanks for adding a touch of humor NajaB!

 

[giofx]

lol

 

[Testing]

If anyone on the team needs a cold one or a place to swim, drop me a line. It's only 99f there. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[llivinglarge]

Speaking of cold ones... Could the thermal tiles keep a beer keg cool?<br /><br />You guys might need them for the party tonight.

 

[viper101]

What is WITH all the trolls on here lately? Seems I've seen THREE in the past day or two. <br /><br />

 

[lunatio_gordin]

ROFLOL. that's hilarious. Why do they even bother? You'd think the guy who painted that there would have been laughing too hard to do it right <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" />

 

[steve82]

Well, John Logsden and Robert Park were just on News Hour offering their take on the mission and the future of man in space. Of course we knew what Park was going to say.

 

[lunatic133]

This does seem to be an SN created simply to annoy. On another message board once I was annoyed with the population there so I strongly considered starting a new screen name, called CheeseIsGood, and posting about how harvesting the cheese on the moon would end world hunger. Fortunately I never got around to it. But Sofaking's post makes about as much sense...

 

[dragon04]

I am overjoyed that Discovery got her crew home safely. Now let's quit spending days and dollars on the STS program and get on to the Moon and Mars. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[dougbaker]

it has been such a long time, does anyone know the route the sca and shuttle take back to Florida. I know it stops and refuels, but where?<br />

 

[SpaceKiwi]

Excellent mission! Well done to everyone concerned.<br /><br />najaB, time to start the first STS-121 thread!<br /><br />(working with the time-honoured theory of "positive thinking") <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>

 

[najab]

Someone beat me to it. There's a STS-121 thread floating around somewhere already. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[najab]

><i>I know it stops and refuels, but where? </i><p>That depends entirely on the weather. The SCA is limited to flying below 15,000ft so it can't fly <b>over</b> weather, it has to find a route around it or stay on the ground. The length of the flight and the stops vary as a result.</p>

 

[drwayne]

The stopped here at Eglin a few years back. When I was heading into work, and driving around the end of the runway - I saw them out on the tarmac. It was a site to remember. Wow.<br /><br />I had seen it the previous afternoon as it was approaching the field. Those engines sounded like they were working hard, even on approach...<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Are they going to do a standard tile examination, or are new examinations being done to take advantage of the examinations that were done in space?<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[Testing]

During the crew walk around it seemed they found the area just aft of the nose gear doors of significant interest. Was there something to see or was it that they were looking for effects from the gap filler being removed? I understand if this info or lack of has not gotten back to you. Just an observation from watching with no sound. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[j05h]

Haven't people on the ground vomitted on the opening of the Shuttle hatch? I've heard that even the Mid-Deck can have a very... flavorful... odor after a week or two full of activity.<br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[emerrill]

"That only happened when the potty broke and the Orbiter sat in the hot sun for a day or so. I did not hear that the ground crew vomited but they did go in and come right back out and refused to go back in without scott air packs."<br /><br />Man, you are just full of great tidbits about the shuttle program.<br /><br />-eric <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[emerrill]

Yeah, all im getting is Loading (0%)<br /><br />-eric <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[frodo1008]

Sorry Leo, but it was YOU that said that you were going to ban him, not me. When you ban someone for their present name, does it mean that they had a previous name that was also banished, or what? Sorry about being off topic here, but I AM curious!

 

[shuttle_rtf]

You didn't miss much, Dave. Basically saying September is unlikely and that they aren't sure about anything.<br /><br />They held back on lots of info.

 

[redgryphon]

Not much in terms of concrete planning decisions, no. But some interesting details nonetheless.<br /><br />Gerstenmeier opened today with a new version of the "it didn't go so bad" story. The ET has 4192 pounds of foam, and 1.2 pounds were liberated on STS-114.<br /><br />He said that based on the preliminary reports has has received so far, he did not forsee at the moment any "major rework" of the tanks before STS-121. Options included removing and reapplying the PAL ramps wholesale, especially if they had previously experienced small repairs. Removing the PAL ramp completely or applying mesh netting are long term options to be implemented only after at least one more instrumented tank has flown. <br /><br />Gerst thinks that the five areas probably all had different mechanisms causing foam loss, which will need to be addressed. Besides the PAL ramp, the ice/frost ramp losses and the divots near the bipod were also concerns. Suspicion with the bipod acreage losses focusses on wiring near the foam allowing cryo ingestion. <br /><br />The Tiger team is working on root causes right now (with an emphasis on the engineering, not process or management errors). That should conclude in a few days. The next step is to decide what to do with future tanks. And then decide on what to do in the long term. He expects the tiger team to wrap up in a few weeks, and let the 5 engineering teams also working on this continue.<br /><br />The NDE records of the PAL ramp are being checked. There are some points of varying density, but he didn't conclude anything from that. He was quite frank about saying that the NDE was still not mature, and NASA is still working out how to use and interpret it best.

 

[shuttle_rtf]

I've also gone back and seen he said that the repair job on ET-121 was not a "bad repair" from what he can tell. Which is good news for the guys at MAF.