Author Topic: Discovery debris hit was from booster (Read 17115 times)

Chris Bergin · « **on:** 12/28/2006 09:47 pm »

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4974

Some additional imagery from presentations on L2 to follow..

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #1 on:** 12/28/2006 09:47 pm »

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #2 on:** 12/28/2006 09:48 pm »

Late inspection example:

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #3 on:** 12/28/2006 09:49 pm »

One of the images showing the foam loss on the ET:

shuttlefan · « **Reply #4 on:** 12/28/2006 10:46 pm »

Could this have the potential to be another showstopper for the Shuttle Program ie. a redesign of the SRB insulation?

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #5 on:** 12/28/2006 11:04 pm »

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shuttlefan - 28/12/2006 11:29 PM

Could this have the potential to be another showstopper for the Shuttle Program ie. a redesign of the SRB insulation?

Na. It actually helps as it shows that the booster can liberate such debris (which is obviously not all of the time) and still not prove to be a "threat".

They'll obviously look at stopping such liberations all the same.

astrobrian · « **Reply #6 on:** 12/29/2006 02:07 am »

Hopefully no hit in the manifest either.

dwmzmm · « **Reply #7 on:** 12/29/2006 02:35 am »

I recall, as I was watching a series of videos from various areas of the boosters, some rather large, loose, flapping debris falling off just as Discovery was
leaving the launch pad. What, if any, were the resolution(s) of those debris?

Shuttle Man · « **Reply #8 on:** 12/29/2006 02:47 am »

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dwmzmm - 28/12/2006 9:18 PM

I recall, as I was watching a series of videos from various areas of the boosters, some rather large, loose, flapping debris falling off just as Discovery was
leaving the launch pad. What, if any, were the resolution(s) of those debris?

What you saw are the tyvek covers coming away as per normal. Chris appears to have the key elements noted in the article with the debris hit at T+2mins.

Shuttle Man · « **Reply #9 on:** 12/29/2006 02:47 am »

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astrobrian - 28/12/2006 8:50 PM

Hopefully no hit in the manifest either.

It won't be. Tile repairs, sometimes called cavity repairs, are normal.

MikeM. · « **Reply #10 on:** 12/29/2006 02:47 am »

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dwmzmm - 28/12/2006 10:18 PM

I recall, as I was watching a series of videos from various areas of the boosters, some rather large, loose, flapping debris falling off just as Discovery was
leaving the launch pad. What, if any, were the resolution(s) of those debris?

If these are what you are referring to. They are the RCS tyvek covers and they are designed to fall off early into the launch.

Launch Fan · « **Reply #11 on:** 12/29/2006 03:04 am »

The presentations on this in L2 are stunning with a capital S. Be encouraged by all of this. NASA doesn't miss a hair out of place on the orbiters now. The detail from the OBSS is awesome.

astrobrian · « **Reply #12 on:** 12/29/2006 04:13 am »

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Shuttle Man - 28/12/2006 9:30 PM
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astrobrian - 28/12/2006 8:50 PM Hopefully no hit in the manifest either.
It won't be. Tile repairs, sometimes called cavity repairs, are normal.

Was referring more to any special actions possibly needed in regards to SRB mods. Either way good if not a flow hit

Rob in KC · « **Reply #13 on:** 01/22/2007 04:06 pm »

Was there any action after this event for mitigating it happening again?

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #14 on:** 01/22/2007 10:29 pm »

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Rob in KC - 22/1/2007 5:06 PM

Was there any action after this event for mitigating it happening again?

It was the subject of a couple of PRCB documents we have on L2, but the main thing was it didn't cause any serious damage, just comestic.

Andrewwski · « **Reply #15 on:** 01/23/2007 12:45 am »

One question...is there documentation of this ever happening before?

DaveS · « **Reply #16 on:** 01/23/2007 01:24 am »

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Andrewwski - 23/1/2007 2:45 AM

One question...is there documentation of this ever happening before?

Of what? That SRB debris has impacted orbiter TPS before? Happened on STS-27R, SRB nosecap debris impacted orbiter TPS and causing considerable tile damage.

Orbiter Obvious · « **Reply #17 on:** 01/23/2007 06:20 am »

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DaveS - 22/1/2007 8:24 PM

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Andrewwski - 23/1/2007 2:45 AM

One question...is there documentation of this ever happening before?
Of what? That SRB debris has impacted orbiter TPS before? Happened on STS-27R, SRB nosecap debris impacted orbiter TPS and causing considerable tile damage.

Always makes me wonder at how safety has changed so much when I hear of previous near disasters like this.

MKremer · « **Reply #18 on:** 01/23/2007 09:13 am »

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Orbiter Obvious - 23/1/2007 1:20 AM
Always makes me wonder at how safety has changed so much when I hear of previous near disasters like this.

"Disaster" is a relative term - different areas of the TPS can handle lots of damage (-vs- TPS areas where even small damages could be serious) before one can determine them 'critical'. Even the wholesale loss of one or more tiles wouldn't necessarily cause a "disaster", although it would surely remove the orbiter from flight rotation while its metal substructure was repaired.

nathan.moeller · « **Reply #19 on:** 01/23/2007 01:06 pm »

And remember what happened on STS-1. The orbiter lost 16 TPS tiles and had another 148 sustain a nice amount of damage from the shock wave created by the SRBs at liftoff. I don't believe they had the sound suppression water system for that launch though. But the point is you can see why NASA believed the orbiters were near-invincible when it came to TPS tile damage.