Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida successfully completed two sets of leak checks of the gaseous hydrogen vent line attached to the ground umbilical carrier plate, or GUCP, following repairs to fix a hydrogen gas leak that scrubbed space shuttle Discovery’s launch Nov. 5. The leak checks were done at ambient temperatures on GUCP, including one Wednesday night at higher-than-standard pressure to rigorously test the repairs. There were no leaks.
Today, teams will install a new section of metal, called a "doubler" because it’s twice as thick as the original stringer metal, to replace the two cracked stringers.
Senior managers plan to meet Nov. 22 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and via video conference for a launch status briefing to assess and review the repair work and launch preparations. Although managers have not set a new target launch date for Discovery’s STS-133 mission to the International Space Station, the repair work and planning are aimed at supporting an attempt in the upcoming launch window that opens Nov. 30.