Hundreds of engineers are scrambling to figure out why a fuel gauge on the space shuttle Discovery failed right before its launch, while NASA clings to the possibility that it might be able to make another attempt tomorrow.
Deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said the fix would have to be fast and simple, though, to have Discovery ready by then. Most likely, NASA's first mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster will require more complicated repairs and be delayed into next week or even September, depending on the extent of work needed.
"Everybody is tremendously disappointed," said Michael Wetmore, director of space shuttle processing. "But everybody was also here 2 1/2 years ago and saw that we failed in our mission to protect the crew."
PHOTO: AP
"So there's no one who wants to go forward with a potential risk to the crew that hasn't been appropriately analyzed and addressed."
NASA remains stumped as to why one of four hydrogen-fuel gauges in Discovery's external fuel tank malfunctioned during a routine pre-launch test Wednesday.
The seven astronauts were already on board, liftoff was little more than two hours away and the astronauts' families, members of Congress and space buffs around the world were eagerly waiting. The 12-day mission was loaded with interesting challenges that called for testing new safety and repair methods and delivering supplies to the international space station.
But everything came to a halt when launch controllers sent information mimicking an empty fuel tank. One of the fuel gauges remained stuck on "full."
Hours later, long after the tank was emptied, the troublesome gauge finally started working. That makes it an intermittent problem, Hale said, "which is the worst kind of thing to troubleshoot."
The problem could be in the gauge at the bottom of the tank -- an electronic box aboard the shuttle that serves as a data-relay hub -- or in the cables and wires in between.
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