KENNEDY SPACE CENTER <br />SHUTTLE & PAYLOAD PROCESSING STATUS REPORT <br />Monday, January 6, 2003 (4:30 p.m.)<br />For the latest Shuttle status on the web visit<br /><http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/stsstat/current.htm>. <br />For the latest weather forecast visit<br /><http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/weatstat/forecast.htm>. <br />Visit <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm> for the<br />latest schedule of future Shuttle missions. KSC press releases can be found<br />at <http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/release.htm>. <br />The KSC home page can be found at <http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/>. <br /><br /><br />ORBITER MAJOR MODIFICATION PERIOD<br />VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103<br />Shuttle Processing Note: An engineering evaluation continues following the<br />discovery late last year of a surface crack in a ball associated with a tie<br />rod assembly inside of a 17-inch liquid oxygen line aboard Discovery. The<br />crack was found during standard Orbiter Maintenance and Modification (OMM)<br />inspections. The crack is located on a 2.25-inch diameter metal ball<br />associated with the Ball Strut Tie Rod Assembly (BSTRA) inside Discovery's<br />17-inch liquid oxygen line. Further inspections of similar assemblies in<br />Discovery's 17-inch and 12-inch lines have found no cracks. Inspections of<br />Atlantis and Endeavour also have found no cracks.<br />Tests using spare BSTRA ball assemblies are under way as part of the<br />engineering evaluation and are not expected to be completed until later this<br />week at the earliest. The ongoing evaluation has had no impact on shuttle<br />launch preparations.<br />MISSION STS-107 -SPACEHAB/ FREESTAR MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH MISSION<br />VEHICLE - Columbia/OV-102<br />TARGET LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 16, 2003<br />TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.<br />TARGET LANDING DATE: Feb. 1, 2003<br />MISSION DURATION: 16 days<br />CREW: Husband, McCool, Anderson, Chawla, Brown, Clark, Ramon<br />ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 150 nautical miles/39 degrees<br />Shuttle Processing Note: S0007 Launch Preparations began today at Pad 39-A<br />for Shuttle Columbia's Jan. 16 launch on the Spacehab microgravity research<br />mission. The astronauts and pad workers successfully completed the Terminal<br />Countdown Demonstration Test. Today orbiter aft closeouts are in work along<br />with preparations for the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit installation,<br />Module Vertical Access Kit storage operations, Mass Memory Unit flight load<br />and Orbiter Midbody Umbilical Unit mate and leak checks. Ordnance is<br />scheduled later this week. No inspections are planned on Columbia related to<br />the BSTRA ball crack evaluation. <br />- more -<br />MISSION STS-114 -- 17TH ISS FLIGHT (ULF1) - CREW ROTATION/MULTI-PURPOSE<br />LOGISTICS MODULE<br />VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104<br />TARGET LAUNCH DATE: March 1, 2003 <br />TARGET LANDING DATE: March 13, 2003 <br />MISSION DURATION: 12 days <br />SHUTTLE CREW: Collins, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson<br />ISS EXPEDITION CREW 7: Malenchenko, Kaleri, Lu<br />ORBITAL ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles, 51.6 degrees<br />Shuttle Processing Note: Atlantis continues to be processed for its March<br />launch to the International Space Station. Today, heat shield installation<br />continues in work as does preparations to install the Forward Reaction<br />Control System. As part of the analysis under way regarding the crack found<br />in the BSTRA ball on Discovery, technicians completed an inspection of<br />Atlantis' lines and found no cracks. With those inspections complete, all<br />three Space Shuttle Main Engines were installed and leak checks are<br />complete. The Crew Equipment Interface Test is also complete.<br />MISSION STS-115 -- 18th ISS FLIGHT (12A) - P3/P4 SOLAR ARRAYS<br />VEHICLE - Endeavour/OV-105<br />TARGET LAUNCH DATE: May 23, 2003<br />TARGET LANDING DATE: June 3, 2003<br />MISSION DURATION: 10 days<br />CREW: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean, Stefanyshyn-Piper<br />ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles/51.6 degrees<br />Shuttle Processing Note: Deservicing and processing continues for the<br />STS-115 mission to the International Space Station scheduled in May 2003.<br />Throughout the holidays, work continued with waterproofing operations,<br />structural inspections of the orbiter's leading edge and the Forward<br />Reaction Control System. Removal of the Forward Reaction Control System was<br />also completed. Checkout on the Orbiter Maneuvering System Pod is in work as<br />is MEC/PIC verification. Preparations for fuel cell single cell voltage test<br />are also in work. Inspections of the BSTRAs continue on Endeavour to gather<br />data to be used in the analysis of a crack found in an assembly on<br />Discovery. The inspections of Endeavour have found no cracks so far. <br />-- end --