Discovery's left wing STS-114

View of Discovery's left wing without the RCC panels installed. Two crew
members for the next shuttle mission appear to be in thought as they look at
the place where all of Columbia's troubles began...

-- Alan




(03/05/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-114 Mission
Specialists Andrew Thomas and Soichi Noguchi look at the leading edge of
Discovery's wing with RCC panels removed. Noguchi is with the Japanese
Aerospace and Exploration Agency. Crew members are at KSC becoming familiar
with Shuttle and mission equipment. The mission is Logistics Flight 1, which
is scheduled to deliver supplies and equipment plus the external stowage
platform to the International Space Station.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22033


(03/15/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing
Facility, the first Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel is ready for installation
on the left wing leading edge on Discovery. The RCC panels are mechanically
attached to the wing with spars, a series of floating joints to reduce
loading on the panels caused by wing deflections. Discovery has been named
as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22187


(03/15/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing
Facility, United Space Alliance technician Jim Burgess installs the first
Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel on the left wing leading edge of Discovery.
The RCC panels are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series of
floating joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing deflections.
Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to Flight
mission, STS-114.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22195

Same spot on Atlantis.


(09/05/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - William Gaetjens (background),
with the Vehicle Integration Test Team (VITT) directs Japanese astronaut
Koichi Wakata's attention to the spars installed on the wing of the orbiter
Atlantis. Reinforced Carbon Carbon (RCC) panels are mechanically attached to
the wing via the spars - a series of floating joints - to reduce loading on
the panels caused by wing deflections. The aluminum and the metallic
attachments are protected from exceeding temperature limits by internal
insulation.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=20589




"Alan Pretre" no@spam wrote in message
...
View of Discovery's left wing without the RCC panels installed. Two crew
members for the next shuttle mission appear to be in thought as they look
at the place where all of Columbia's troubles began...

-- Alan




(03/05/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-114 Mission
Specialists Andrew Thomas and Soichi Noguchi look at the leading edge of
Discovery's wing with RCC panels removed. Noguchi is with the Japanese
Aerospace and Exploration Agency. Crew members are at KSC becoming
familiar with Shuttle and mission equipment. The mission is Logistics
Flight 1, which is scheduled to deliver supplies and equipment plus the
external stowage platform to the International Space Station.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22033


(03/15/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing
Facility, the first Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel is ready for
installation on the left wing leading edge on Discovery. The RCC panels
are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series of floating
joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing deflections.
Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to
Flight mission, STS-114.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22187


(03/15/2004) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing
Facility, United Space Alliance technician Jim Burgess installs the first
Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel on the left wing leading edge of Discovery.
The RCC panels are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series
of floating joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing
deflections. Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first
Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/tra...?mediaid=22195

Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....

- Ed Kyle

In article .com,
wrote:

Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....

- Ed Kyle

Hey, why don't you try to pay attention? The root cause of the
Columbia accident was failure of the RCC or any of the supporting
structure. If you doubt that, try reading the CAIB report.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

In article ,
Herb Schaltegger wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:

Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....

- Ed Kyle

Hey, why don't you try to pay attention? The root cause of the
Columbia accident was failure of the RCC or any of the supporting
structure. If you doubt that, try reading the CAIB report.

*cough* I mean, "wasn't" . . . *cough*

(That's what I get for not proof reading a rant before hitting "Post")

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

wrote in message
oups.com...
Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....

To be fair, it was the foam on the ET that failed first. That issue appears
to have been addressed with a sensible redesign of the bipod ramp region as
well as other efforts to improve the spray on foam insulation in general.

Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

wrote:
Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....


Where did you get the idea that they would be installing something
different? And did you think that the "few billion dollars" all went
to the WLE?

And why did you put another glass windshield in your
car/plane/boat/train when those have been shown to fail when the deer
doesn't clear the hood?

You're straining here, Ed.

/dps

Herb Schaltegger wrote in message ...
In article ,
Herb Schaltegger wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....

Hey, why don't you try to pay attention? The root cause of the
Columbia accident was failure of the RCC or any of the supporting
structure. If you doubt that, try reading the CAIB report.

*cough* I mean, "wasn't" . . . *cough*


I read the CAIB report several times. After "eliminate shedding
from ET", the No. 2 recommendation was to increase the shuttle's
ability to sustain debris damage. One of the long-term goals
was to increase the orbiter's ability to re-enter Earth's
atmosphere even with minor damage. The photos show that neither
of these "toughen up the orbiter" recommendations have been
addressed.

- Ed Kyle

"Herb Schaltegger" wrote in message
...
Hey, why don't you try to pay attention? The root cause of the
Columbia accident was failure of the RCC or any of the supporting
structure. If you doubt that, try reading the CAIB report.

*cough* I mean, "wasn't" . . . *cough*

I was going to say. Talk about a bad error. :-)



(That's what I get for not proof reading a rant before hitting "Post")

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

(dave schneider) wrote in message . com...
wrote:
Two years, a few billion dollars, and it looks like they're installing
essentially the same equipment that failed before ....


Where did you get the idea that they would be installing something
different?

From the CAIB report, which, second only to eliminating
ET shedding, recommended toughening up the orbiter to
debris impacts.

And why did you put another glass windshield in your
car/plane/boat/train when those have been shown to fail when the deer
doesn't clear the hood?

If my original windshield had been plain glass (and if I
had survived the accident), I would have learned that it
was a really good idea to upgrade to shatter-proof safety
glass.

- Ed Kyle