Dec 19 1985
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Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) announced selection of Teledyne Brown Engineering for negotiation leading to the award of a five-year contract to provide operation and maintenance of the propellants and pressurants facilities for the center. Total price for the first three contract years was approximately $8.8 million.
Teledyne Brown would furnish the necessary management, personnel, equipment, and materials required to operate and maintain the gaseous pressurants equipment and distribution systems, liquid propellants storage and transfer systems, fluid transporter services, valve and component refurbishment, and retention of certification status of high-pressure systems, including test stands, wind tunnels, and Department of Transportation certification of fluid transporters. (MSFC Release 85-72)
A hydraulic pump in a booster rocket attached to the Space Shuttle Columbia failed today, halting the launch countdown 14 seconds before liftoff and delaying STS mission 61-C until early in 1986, the NY Times reported. The shutdown came four seconds before ignition of the three main engines. NASA had called for a delay of 54 minutes earlier in the morning when clouds moved over the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
NASA aborted the countdown when a computer on the ground sensed that a pump on one of the Space Shuttle's solid-fuel rocket boosters was spinning at 86,000 rpm, exceeding the turbine's “red line” limits by almost 7,000 rpm. The device, described as a hydraulic power unit, provided power so the nozzle of the solid-fuel rocket booster could pivot slightly in flight, helping to control the direction of the orbiter's ascent. NASA officials indicated there was a backup pump on the booster, but that, if a single pump failed before liftoff, safety precautions called for abort of the countdown.
That particular hydraulic power unit had flown twice before on the reusable solid-fuel rocket boosters, NASA officials said, and similar devices had flown up to four times before requiring replacement. It was the first failure in the Space Shuttle program of that particular part.
NASA would have to repair or replace the failed pump and said it had rescheduled the launching for January 4, 1986, so there would be no interference with the holidays. The delay until January would also allow NASA to avoid paying the Air Force to keep open its Eastern Test Range at Cape Canaveral and paying launch pad workers triple-time pay for working between Christmas and New Year's, the Washington Post reported. “The team is obviously disappointed,” said Robert Sieck, director of Space Shuttle operations at KSC. “But we're going to isolate the problem and fix it and get on with the launch process.” NASA said the delay would have no impact on the 16 Space Shuttle missions, including 61-C, that it had scheduled for 1986. (NY Times, Dec 20/85, B10; W Post, Dec 20/85, A2)
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