Discovery’s most important task during mission STS-114 was to evaluate enhancements made to the shuttle system in the 30 months following the Columbia disaster.

On the third day of the mission, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin offered this blunt assessment: “The camera worked well. The foam did not.”

It took the agency a little more than a day following Discovery’s launch to ground the shuttle fleet. They arrived at that conclusion based on dramatic visual evidence collected by a battery of video and still images taken from myriad sources, including the external tank.

“NASA engineers are evaluating the loss of a large piece of insulation foam from the space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank during Tuesday’s launch,” the agency said in a statement issued on Thursday. “Based on initial assessments, the foam — which appears to measure approximately 24 to 33 inches long, 10 to 13 inches wide and 2-1/2 to 8 inches thick — was seen by high-resolution camera equipment added to the shuttle system after the loss of Columbia in 2003. The accident was caused by foam from the external tank hitting the orbiter during launch.”

After extensive reviews of Discovery’s tiles, known as a Thermal Protection System because it protects the craft and occupants from the searing heat of reentry, during the first three days of the mission, NASA planned additional inspections from aboard the International Space Station.

“There was no indication the piece of foam sighted Tuesday caused any damage to Discovery,” the NASA statement said.

“As with any unexpected occurrence, we will closely and thoroughly evaluate this event and make any needed modifications to the Shuttle before we launch again,” Griffin said. “This is a test flight. Among the things we are testing are the integrity of the foam insulation and the performance of new camera equipment installed to detect problems. The cameras worked well. The foam did not.”

Discovery’s seven crew members are being updated with the latest ground team analysis of the foam loss and are continuing to take part in the inspection process, according to the agency.
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The International Space Station finally — after a nearly 3 year interruption — has a space shuttle as a guest. Discovery and the seven-member crew docked this morning and have gone aboard.

Before docking, Commander Eileen Collins flipped the Discovery over so the space station’s crew could photograph the orbiter’s belly as an extra measure of surveillance of potential tile damage.

Falling debris seen on video images taken during Discovery’s launch yesterday has prompted NASA to take the unprecedented step of grounding the entire shuttle fleet while one of the crafts is in orbit.

Discovery’s crew spent used a new extension on the robotic arm to scrutinize the orbiter today and it will be photographed from the International Space Station prior to tomorrow’s docking.

At the moment, officials are saying that Discovery and the seven-member crew are in no peril because no debris was seen striking the shuttle itself.

However, the 30 month grounding between Columbia’s disintegration and Discovery’s return to space was supposed to have solved the problem of debris coming off the external tank. Such debris, a piece of foam, is blamed on dooming Columbia in February, 2003.

A photograph of the external tank taken just after it was jettisoned by Discovery on Tuesday morning shows a chunk of foam is missing. It’s believed that same piece can be seen falling away from the tank in a separate, earlier, piece of video.

The space shuttle Discovery soared into orbit this morning on a 12-day mission that returns America’s space program to flight following a nearly 30-month delay after Columbia disintegrated while attempting to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere.

Discovery is commanded by Eileen Collins. Joining her for mission STS-114 are: Pilot James Kelly, and Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi, Stephen Robinson, Andrew Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charles Camarda.

As Discovery exited the final hold at nine minutes before launch, NASA manager gave the go for flight and then reported the news to Collins: “Good luck. Godspeed and have a little fun up there.” [Listen to the launch (QuickTime, 556K or MP3, 1.4mb). Audio via NASA TV feed, 2:59:00]

In addition to visiting the International Space Station, much of Discovery’s mission is dedicated to testing changes made to the remaining shuttle fleet. Among the tests, a new robotic arm equipped with a camera will sweep across the orbiting shuttle to look for any damage sustained during launch.

Weather had been a potential concern for launch, with a 40% chance that rain would force a delay. However, flight day arrived with clear blue skies. Roughly an hour before liftoff, NASA pegged the weather as being 90% favorable. Earlier concerns about weather problems at emergency-landing sites across the Atlantic Ocean also didn’t materialize, and all three sites — Zaragoza, Spain, Moron, Spain, and Istres, France — were approved with the crew selecting Zaragoza as the primary abort location.

While Discovery’s successful launch marks NASA’s return to space, it technically doesn’t mark the nation’s return. On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne earned the X-Prize as the first private craft to enter space twice in a 14-day period. It was the rocket’s third suborbital flight.
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Discovery’s hatch has been closed and everything is looking good for an on-time launch at 10:39 a.m. Eastern. Even the weather, originally pegged at a 60% chance of cooperating, seems to be holding in NASA’s favor.

Earlier, the seven-member crew were seated and strapped into their seats one by one.

Thus far NASA is not working a single problem, including the fuel sensor that prompted the launch to be scrubbed on July 13.

More below.

So far, so good for a planned launch at 10:39 a.m. A sensor test is upcoming.

Discovery has passed the initial fuel-sensor tests.

As fueling of the space shuttle Discovery’s external tank begins, so does the real test of NASA’s exhausting two-week effort to diagnose the fuel-sensor problems that forced an end to the agency’s first launch attempt in nearly 30 months.

Launch managers will be keeping a close eye on the sensor, and three others just like it, as the clock ticks toward a 10:39 a.m. Eastern liftoff. Special tests of the fuel sensors are scheduled for 1:30 a.m., three hours prior to launch and again during a pause in the countdown with nine minutes remaining.

While the agency’s dozen troubleshooting teams didn’t definitively solve the problem in the two weeks following the July 13 scrub, managers are confident that they’ve learned enough to work around the issue if it crops up again.

In fact, NASA managers would consider waving current launch criteria requiring four working sensors. The rule dates back to changes made in the wake of the Challenger explosion in 1986. However, the system was overhauled following the Columbia accident on February 1, 2003 and officials at the space agency had previously considered changing the criteria.
At issue is the shuttle fleet’s engine-cutoff sensors (also known as ECO sensors), which are located at the base of the 526,000-gallon external tank. The sensors are designed to shutdown the shuttle’s three main engines in the event that fuel runs perilously low during flight.

A false empty reading could prompt an unnecessary in-flight abort of the launch. A failure to detect an empty tank could cause the shuttle’s main engines to explode.
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NASA managers on Sunday gave the official OK for a launch attempt on Tuesday morning on what would be the agency’s return-to-space flight following the February, 2003 Columbia accident.

A faulty sensor reading — which forced Discovery’s initial July 13 launch attempt to be scrubbed and has since puzzled the dozen troubleshooting crews — continues to have officials keeping their fingers crossed. However, the managers said Sunday night that no significant issues remain.

During the countdown, NASA will keep a close eye on the sensor; should the problem reappear, the countdown will be halted while the situation is assessed, the agency reported during a Sunday briefing.

Liftoff is schedule for 10:39 a.m. Eastern.
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