Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!emory!gatech!mcnc!uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU!gsh7w
From: gsh7w@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Causes for Columbia leaks ??
Message-ID: <1990Nov12.192916.10877@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 12 Nov 90 19:29:16 GMT
References: <1475@eastman.UUCP>
Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU
Organization: University of Virginia
Lines: 20

In article <1475@eastman.UUCP> gerwitz@Kodak.com writes:
#Now that Columbia seems to be back together and ready to launch...
#
#I don't recall any mention of the actual causes of the hydrogen leaks that
#plagued it over the summer.  Maybe I just wasn't paying real close
#attention this time around.  Any quick explanations ??

The problem over the summer was in the 17 inch disconnect valve, which
had scratches in the telfon seals. The scratches were caused by small
glass beads. How the beads got there is unknown, but I have hard at
least two theories. When they were putting back together the engines
after fixing the disconnect valve, two seals were crushed, causing
leaks. In  fixing one leak they introduced two more. The procedures
were changed to prevent a reoccurance of this event.

--
-Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia
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