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From: garym@sugar.hackercorp.com (Gary Morris)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Hydrogen leak test
Summary: Tanking test will be done later
Message-ID: <6403@sugar.hackercorp.com>
Date: 20 Aug 90 22:32:42 GMT
References: <27929@netnews.upenn.edu> <1240.26ca968d@waikato.ac.nz>
Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston
Lines: 32

In article <1240.26ca968d@waikato.ac.nz>, hamish@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> In article <27929@netnews.upenn.edu>, vinson@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Jack
> >        I saw a very small blurb in the paper this past Sunday which
> > said NASA was so confident it had cleared up the hydrogen leak in the
> > shuttles that it wouldn't be testing for the leak again.  Is this
true?
> > I don't think this makes sense, unless their tests during the fix were
> > extensive enough to preclude the pre-flight tests.
>
>  Are you serious? I thought that after Hubble Trouble, NASA would have
learned
> their lesson on not testing things properly. Sounds to me like another
orbiter
> down if this continues.
 
They will be doing the leak check when they tank the ET on the day
before launch.  What they are skipping is doing a mini-tanking test
after roll-out.
 
The reasoning is that if it fails the tanking test it doesn't matter
whether they find out two weeks before launch or the day before launch,
the flight will still have to be scrubbed until after STS-41/Ulysses
goes.  So they are skipping the mini-tanking test to get STS-35 off a
little earlier and still have time to get STS-41 off by the opening
of it's window.
 
That's the way I understand what's being done.
--GaryM
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