[sarex] Technicians to Begin Discovery Strut Repairs

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


	*Technicians to Begin Discovery Strut Repairs *
17 SEPTEMBER 2007
NASA technicians will begin repair work Wednesday on a leaking hydraulic 
seal in space shuttle Discovery’s right main-gear strut. The struts act 
as shock absorbers during the shuttle's landing. Shuttle managers made 
the decision to go ahead with the repairs during a meeting Monday 
afternoon.

Discovery had been scheduled to roll over Wednesday from its processing 
hanger to the Vehicle Assembly Building. There it will be attached to 
its external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters for its upcoming 
mission, STS-120, to the International Space Station.

A new rollover date will be set after technicians begin work on the 
strut and determine what needs to be fixed and how long that will take. 
To remove the main landing gear strut and replace seals requires 
disconnecting and replacing the brakes and tires, disconnecting and 
reconnecting instruments and other requirements to allow access to the 
strut.

Managers will assess the ongoing repair work to decide how it might 
affect Discovery’s Oct. 23 target launch date.

At the same meeting, managers also officially decided to add an 
additional spacewalk, bringing the total to five. On the extra 
spacewalk, Missions Specialists Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock 
will test tile heat shield repair techniques, extending the mission to 
14 days.