Fuel Drain Delays Shuttle Atlantis Rollback
Possible Disassembly May Delay Launch Until June
POSTED: Thursday, March 1, 2007
UPDATED: 1:25 pm EST March 1,
2007
 |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Atlantis won't roll back to its Kennedy Space Center assembly building until Sunday because NASA is draining toxic rocket fuel out of storage tanks aboard the vehicle. The fuel off-loading operation is being done just in case the shuttle has to be disassembled to complete repairs to the ship's hail-hammered external tank. If that turns out to be the case, the shuttle's International Space Station assembly mission might be delayed beyond late April. And if the tank cannot be repaired at KSC, then the mission likely will be postponed until June. The off-loading operation involves draining nitrogen tetroxide and monomethyl hydrazine from storage tanks that feed the shuttle's twin maneuvering engines as well as its 44 nose-and-tail steering jets. The same propellants are being drained from the shuttle's three auxiliary power units, which provide the hydraulic power needed to steer the shuttle's three engines in flight and control its wing flaps, rudder-speedbrake, landing gear, brakes and nosewheel steering system during atmospheric reentry and landing. The hydraulic power units that enable the nozzles on the shuttle's twin solid rocket boosters to be gimbaled also are being drained. The concern is that toxic rocket fuel could leak if the shuttle is disassembled and towed back to its processing facility. NASA is planning to remove the shuttle's payload from the ship's cargo bay early Saturday. The 17.5-ton station truss segment will be moved into holding cell at launch pad 39A. The six-hour trip from pad 39A to the assembly building is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Sunday. Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Copyright 2007 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com.
All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.
Ida grows into a hurricane for a second time, and the system could be headed for Florida.
Images and hundreds of pages of documents related to the Casey Anthony case are released by the state attorney's office.
Jason Rodriguez is formally charged with first-degree murder and ordered to be held on no bond on charges he shot five people, killing one in a downtown office building on Friday.
| Arrest | Suspect
A final police report into the murder-suicide that left a Heathrow family of four dead details the couple's former swinging lifestyle and a gambling habit.
If holiday travelers on the same plane compare what they paid to fly, they're likely to find quite a spread, depending on when they bought their tickets.
Local 6 News, led by investigative reporter Mike Holfeld, will host an interactive experience on Monday at 6:30 p.m. with viewers, including a phone bank and online chat with homeowners association experts.
Police release the name of the victim killed in a shooting at an Orlando high-rise and file first-degree murder charges against the suspected shooter. 
Eric Flack goes inside a controversial swingers club in suburban Cincinnati.
A South Carolina man caught on video having sex with a horse has been sentenced to three years in prison for abusing the animal.
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009.
A massive fire at the Gatorland attraction in Orange County, Fla., engulfed the park's gift shop and apparently damaged other surrounding offices Monday, according to Local 6 News.
Hundreds of photos in the Casey Anthony case are released.
At least six people were shot at an Orlando high-rise, officials say.
Email Alerts
RSS News Feeds
Mobile
Live Streams
Slideshows
Video
Search
