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KSC Public Affairs Contact:
George Diller (fax 407-867-2692)
E-mail: George.Diller-1@ksc.nasa.gov
The STS-70 payload test team this
afternoon began implementing a schedule which would preserve an option
for Space Shuttle Discovery to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly
Building as early as Thursday.
At this time the batteries of the
Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) are being disconnected and the TDRS batteries
are being discharged. Later tonight the Redundant Inertial Measurement
Unit (RIMU), the primary guidance and navigation system of the IUS, will
be removed. An IUS shock recorder will be installed. All payload
disconnections should be complete by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Work will begin to extract the TDRS/IUS
payload from Discovery’s payload bay starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The
payload should be fully removed and installed in the payload changeout
room at Pad 39-B by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Protective covers will installed
over the solar panels early Wednesday.
No further work will be performed on TDRS/IUS
until the new launch schedule has been determined. If a decision is made
to launch Discovery in August, the TDRS/IUS stack will be returned to
the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) in the KSC Industrial Area. It
will not be necessary to offload the attitude control propellant which
is aboard the satellite. The payload test team is currently discussing
what additional checks, if any, would be appropriate while in the VPF.
Once Discovery has been returned to the
launch pad and the TDRS/IUS reinstalled into the payload bay, an
Interface Verification Test (IVT) will be performed. Whether another
end-to-end communications test is necessary is under discussion. |
