NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT: S06-009

March 17, 2006

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-3749

Jessica Rye
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

STATUS REPORT: S06-009

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT: S06-009

NASA's space shuttle fleet is housed and processed at Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.

Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1) -
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3
Launch Date: Launch Planning Window July 1-19, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

On Tuesday, Space Shuttle Program management announced Discovery's new
launch planning window of July 1 to 19. This window provides the
agency time to change the shuttle's external fuel tank engine cutoff
sensors and to perform additional engineering analysis to ensure a
safe flight for Discovery and its crew.

Discovery's damaged remote manipulator system (shuttle arm) was
removed from the payload bay on Tuesday. The lower section of the arm
is en route to Canada today, so repairs can begin on the damaged
section.

Leak checks were successfully completed on all three space shuttle
main engines, and thermal protection system foaming operations around
the engines are under way. Removal and replacement of windows Number
3 and 5 have begun. Although the windows in the vehicle meet
specification, the new ones have been tested to a higher pressure.

Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A) -
P3/P4 Solar Arrays
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1
Launch Date: No earlier than Aug. 28, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

The vehicle was powered up March 10. Work continues with powered up
system testing. Main propulsion system leak and functional checks
were completed on Tuesday, with final space shuttle main engine
operations continuing once engine No. 3 is installed.

Endeavour (OV-105)

In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, work continues on Endeavour
following an extensive modification period. Installation is under way
on a new modification called the station-to-shuttle power transfer
system. It will enable the shuttle to stay docked longer than normal
to the space station.

On Wednesday, technicians completed the leak-check requirements to
support the multi-purpose logistics module.

External Tank

Following a two-day engineering discussion to determine whether one of
the four external tank engine cutoff (ECO) sensors needed to be
changed, program management decided to remove and replace all four
liquid hydrogen sensors in the external tank. These sensors indicate
whether the tank still has fuel during its climb to orbit. During
normal testing, one of the four ECO sensors had a slightly different
reading than was expected, and its performance in flight was
questioned.

The work will be completed at Kennedy in the Vehicle Assembly
Building's external tank checkout cell. The change out will be
performed by technicians from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility who
are most familiar with this particular work. The replacement of the
sensors will take approximately 22 days to complete and is scheduled
to begin on Monday.

For previous space shuttle processing status reports on the Web,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl