1. And last year, a mission was delayed by leakage into joints within the booster nozzle. 2. Engineers are evaluating an unprecedented grooving of the insulation in the throat of the right booster nozzle used to launch Atlantis. 3. Endeavour also ended a worrisome string of two shuttle launchings in which O-ring seals in the reusable solid rocket booster nozzles were singed by hot exhaust gases. 4. For a second consecutive launch, a space shuttle booster nozzle sustained heat damage to a critical rubber O-ring seal from exhaust gases, according to NASA. 5. For a second consecutive launch, a space shuttle booster nozzle sustained heat damage to a critical rubber O-ring seal from exhaust gases, NASA said Tuesday. 6. Investigators looked at samples of insulation from booster nozzles used on previous shuttle missions as well as insulation from unused nozzles. 7. Launch pad repairs commenced late last week with the excavation of the rubber insulation in two of five O-ring joints in the left and right side booster nozzles. 8. Most significant was the discovery in late July that O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster nozzles had sustained slight burn damage during two previous shuttle flights. 9. Shuttle managers are eager for a successful recovery so they can disassemble and inspect the booster nozzles. 10. The repairs were ordered after O-ring seals in booster nozzles from two previous launchings were singed slightly by rocket exhaust gases. |