A one day delay for Discovery

The leak occurred not far from the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), near to the Turning Basin, the arrival point for the barges coming from Louisiana that transport the ET, External Tanks, for the space shuttles (to find out more, read this portfolio). Moreover, a barge can be seen in the background. Two video screen shots show the progression of the repairs.
Credit: NASA

A water leak has caused the transportation of the space shuttle Discovery from its preparation building (OPF - Orbiter Processing Facility) to the gigantic VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) to be delayed until today, Thursday 9 September. Florida’s Kennedy Space Center announced yesterday morning that a broken 60 cm diameter pipe was depriving its facilities of drinking water. Non-essential personnel were therefore asked to stay at home, but as early as the afternoon work was partially able to continue thanks to the rapid handling of the repairs. In NASA’s opinion, this delay of one day regarding the arrival of the space shuttle to the VAB will not affect its blast-off scheduled for the 1 November 2010. STS-133 mission is to be the last for Discovery.

Published on 9 September 2010

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