Skip the navigation
News

NASA: Shuttle thruster fails day before re-entry

NASA says it can land Endeavour without thruster that controls altitude, speed

By Sharon Gaudin
July 30, 2009 04:42 PM ET

Computerworld - NASA today discovered that a forward thruster that controls the space shuttle Endeavour's speed and altitude is not working properly. The finding comes just a day before the shuttle is due to land at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA discovered the problem today during a prelanding test of Endeavour's Reaction Control System steering thrusters. The problematic front thrusters, which help control Endeavour after the de-orbit burn, failed during testing, NASA said.

Bill Jeffs, a NASA spokesman, said the failed thruster simply won't be used during Friday's scheduled re-entry and landing. "They'll be able to land without it," he said. "The flight control system is in great shape."

According to NASA, the shuttle crew today also tested Endeavour's aerodynamic control surfaces that will be used once the shuttle enters the Earth's atmosphere. That system operated as expected.

The shuttle is scheduled to land at 10:48 a.m. Eastern time on Friday after spending 16-days aloft. The seven-person crew spent nearly 11 days docked with the International Space Station, where they made five spacewalks and used three different robots to install the final piece of the Japanese laboratory, along with spare parts and six new batteries to hold power created by the station's solar arrays .

NASA has said this mission was one of its most technically challenging ever, because it required a whopping five spacewalks and the use of three different robots -- two of which were required to work in conjunction to literally hand off massive parts to each other. The robotic arm onboard the space station even made several Slinky-like "walks" down the backbone of the station.

The next shuttle mission is scheduled to launch on Aug. 18, when the Discovery is expected to deliver 33,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the space station.

Read more about App Development in Computerworld's App Development Topic Center.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

App Development White Papers
The Keys to Distributed & Agile Application Development
How leading firms are winning with strategies for efficient application development, without relying on co-location.
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
All App Development White Papers
App Development Webcasts
Reduced TCO for Communications Applications with New Oracle SPARC Servers
In this webcast learn how Oracle's new SPARC T4 servers and SPARC Supercluster deliver the security, performance, and scalability required for 4G network...
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
All App Development Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs