spicy pork To recap - the latest launch was called off when one of the four engine cut off sensors on the hydrogen fuel tanks (external) failed a 'rountine test' (a problem which actually harks back to April and the cancelation of a May launch).
Although they have not yet actually fixed the sensor problem they are readying for a 'Tuesday' launch it seems.
There will be a continuation of the current troubleshooting and some specific tests to do over the days. Someone is optimistic they will either find a fix or it really isn't the problem it is regulated to be.
It is worrying when I see talk that 'mission managers' are looking into an ammendment of a rule so that the flight could go ahead even if they do not find a fix and only three out of the four sensors are operational.
It's an interesting turn of events, to my mind, after the last few months of what has often seemed like delays at the drop of a hat. It seems to me that the mission managers are giving the wind up and really want to get things 'go for launch' now.
Personally i don't liek the sound of a rule ammendment. They have the rules for a reason - it almost sounds a tad political to be changing them to make a launch happen, not that they actually did that. But it was mentioned.
There is also still the possibility that the launch window could be extended past the July 31st close - but this would mean alterations to mission tasks.
Certainly one must feel for the astronauts.
How would you feel as an astonaut to have spent the last two plus years grounded?
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