Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!aplcen!haven!uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU!gsh7w From: gsh7w@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Fuel Leaks - Historical Perspective Message-ID: <1990Sep18.182855.7696@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: 18 Sep 90 18:28:55 GMT References: Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: University of Virginia Lines: 24 In article mbullock@ADS.COM (Michael E. Bullock) writes: #I don't recall NASA having these problems earlier in the shuttle #program (i.e., STS 1 - 25). Is this all a recent phenomena, or #did they have leaks before, but the mission scrub threshold was #higher so they flew anyways? Or are they now performing more #leak measurements and are finding leaks than might have escaped #detection before? There is a lot of speculation about this. It is impossible to have a leak-free shuttle (you can't have perfect seals at a few Kelvins or so), but there are more sensors than their used to be in the past. If Discovery shows the same type of leak as does Columiba and Atlantis did, then that would lend credence to NASA now detecting something that they could not detect before. However, even if all the shuttles have always leaked by this amount, that does not mean is is necesarily safe to launch. It does not mean that it is unsafe either. From the heart of Marshall Space Flight Center, along with 200 other depressed people, -- -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w