Discovery Hit By Debris
Communication prior to debris strike which is a calculated flight adjustment due to the slighly late launch time. These adjustment numbers are 11.9 and 15.4. (ie. eleven decimal nine)
The communication immediatly after the debris strike was:
Tower - "Discovery you are negative return"
Shuttle - "Negative return"
At approximately four minutes into flight, a piece of foam was seen liberating from the External Tank. This foam was deemed not to be a threat, since it had liberated after the shuttle had left Earth's atmosphere.
During the Discovery's ascent, NASA managers also reported that they saw three more additional instants of foam liberation. These losses also occurred after aerodynamic sensitive times when debris could seriously damage the shuttle.
NASA's engineers accounted the foam losses to a condition called "cryo-pumping". When the external tank is loaded with liquid hydrogen, the air trapped in the foam first liquifies. During the ride into orbit, as the hydrogen level in the tank drops, it warms up and the liquefied air turns back into a gas. The pressure generated due to the state change of hydrogen can cause parts of foam in the tank to come off.
STS-133 - launch attempt 6 -24 Feb 2011, 4:53:24 pm - success - Turnaround was 111 days, 1 hours, 49 minutes - weather was 90%
The clock was held at T-5 minutes to allow time to resolve a computer issue at the Range Safety Officer's console. The issue was resolved and the clock restarted in time to allow Discovery to launch with just 2 seconds left in the launch window.
Halfway this page is a video:
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1372730/pg9
Communication prior to debris strike which is a calculated flight adjustment due to the slighly late launch time. These adjustment numbers are 11.9 and 15.4. (ie. eleven decimal nine)
The communication immediatly after the debris strike was:
Tower - "Discovery you are negative return"
Shuttle - "Negative return"
At approximately four minutes into flight, a piece of foam was seen liberating from the External Tank. This foam was deemed not to be a threat, since it had liberated after the shuttle had left Earth's atmosphere.
During the Discovery's ascent, NASA managers also reported that they saw three more additional instants of foam liberation. These losses also occurred after aerodynamic sensitive times when debris could seriously damage the shuttle.
NASA's engineers accounted the foam losses to a condition called "cryo-pumping". When the external tank is loaded with liquid hydrogen, the air trapped in the foam first liquifies. During the ride into orbit, as the hydrogen level in the tank drops, it warms up and the liquefied air turns back into a gas. The pressure generated due to the state change of hydrogen can cause parts of foam in the tank to come off.
STS-133 - launch attempt 6 -24 Feb 2011, 4:53:24 pm - success - Turnaround was 111 days, 1 hours, 49 minutes - weather was 90%
The clock was held at T-5 minutes to allow time to resolve a computer issue at the Range Safety Officer's console. The issue was resolved and the clock restarted in time to allow Discovery to launch with just 2 seconds left in the launch window.
Halfway this page is a video:
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1372730/pg9
