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Urwumpe

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I'm presuming that there are some very valid engineering reasons on why the FTS needs to be retested and recertified, that it's not some bureaucratic paper-shuffling nonsense.

Well, like in software development: Untested features are features that in the worst case don't exist.

An untested FTS is an FTS that might not work.
 

Thunder Chicken

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It sounds like they are resigned to the fact that this isn't going to get fixed in time and they will have to roll back to the VAB for FTS recertification. Getting access to the leak area on the pad, diagnosing it, repairing it, cryo-testing, and buttoning it back up by Tuesday would be a stretch.

Put your SLS in, put your SLS out, put your SLS in, and shake it all about...
 

Arvil

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I almost can't believe this, are we actually going back to the Moon during my lifetime. Seeing a rocket on a launchpad ready to launch and capable of bringing mankind back to the moon really brings my hopes up.
That is if they can get this mission up on our lifetime.
 

WolfAngriff

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"Boeing effect" :ROFLMAO: I didn't know the name. let's hope we won't discover any "NASA effect"...
 

WolfAngriff

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Not "NASA effect", more like "Apollo 1/Challenger/Columbia" effect. :(
Well, even if it's disapointing, they didn't launch. Time has changed maybe. I think that, in the past, they could have launched because of the mediatic pressure, even with known problems. Today, because of the same pressure, they don't. In the actual economical/social situation, NASA could'nt afford any catastrophic scenario, because of the public opinion. Of course, this is from my european point of view, i don't know realy what is the American's.

Hmm... my english becomes very aproximative. Time to go to bed...
 

GLS

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SLS might not be reusable, but this vehicle is making trips on the crawlerway almost like the shuttle did. It will make (at least) 7 trips before launching, while Challenger did 12 in total.
 

GLS

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BTW: I hope this time they find the time to charge the batteries on all the Cubesats.
 

Thunder Chicken

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Looking to fix leak on pad, but likely will have to roll back to VAB for FTS re-cert. I think adding several weeks to the already extended 25-day FTS certification window seems unlikely. What an awkward arrangement.
 

Thunder Chicken

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I thought this was a rather savage bit of journalism:

www.nasaspaceflight.com said:
This requirement from the Range has been known by NASA for the entire decade-plus development of SLS, but the agency chose to design the rocket in a way that the FTS can only be accessed in the VAB, thus necessitating a rollback.

Is this all because there isn't decking available on the pad for workers to access the system? Or is there some special equipment needed to service the FTS that must stay in the VAB?
 

GLS

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Another test, another leak...

Who build this thing?
Well, they have some precedents for stubborn H2 leaks, namely the Challenger FRFs and then Columbia and Atlantis in 1990. Still it's sad it happens with all the experience.
 

DaveS

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Well, they have some precedents for stubborn H2 leaks, namely the Challenger FRFs and then Columbia and Atlantis in 1990. Still it's sad it happens with all the experience.
Yes. And for all of those examples, they required special "drag-on instrumentation" to be added to the the vehicle to see exactly where the leaks where (orbiter/engine for Challenger and orbiter/ET for Columbia/Atlantis H2 leaks).
 

Urwumpe

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Another test, another leak...

Who build this thing?
Well, they have some precedents for stubborn H2 leaks, namely the Challenger FRFs and then Columbia and Atlantis in 1990. Still it's sad it happens with all the experience.

Arianespace also has their share of H2 leaks, but we usually don't need to talk about it.
 
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