NASA News<br />National Aeronautics and<br />Space Administration<br /><br />John C. Stennis Space Center<br />Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000 STS-05-052<br />(228) 688-3341 May 20, 2003<br /><br />Lanee Cooksey FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br />NASA News Chief<br />(228) 688-3341<br /><br />SHUTTLE'S RETURN TO FLIGHT RELIES ON NASA TEAM EFFORT<br /><br />HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. - Test hardware machined at NASA's Stennis Space<br />Center (SSC)<br />could play a significant role in the Space Shuttle program's return to<br />flight.<br />SSC machined two components for a test article of the leading edge of Space<br />Shuttle<br />Columbia's left wing. Engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in<br />Houston will use the<br />test article in an attempt to re-create conditions on Columbia before her<br />Feb. 1 accident.<br />Engineers believe foam insulation that impacted Columbia's wing during<br />ascent may have<br />breached the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels, leading to the loss of<br />Columbia and her crew<br />during re-entry.<br />"The test article will simulate a portion of Columbia's left wing RCC panels<br />No. 5 through No.<br />10," said JSC Manufacturing Engineer Dan Petersen.<br />"Blocks of external tank insulation will be fired at the test article from a<br />large air cannon," said<br />JSC Project Manager Wayne Jermstad. The object of the test is to understand<br />what effect the foam<br />will have on the RCC panels.<br />Last month, SSC received plates of Inconel, a strong, heat-resistant alloy,<br />and in a quick<br />turnaround of only one week, machined them into two spanner beams,<br />structural parts that reinforce<br />-MORE-<br /><br />the RCC panels.<br /> "Inconel is actually very hard, and very hard to machine," said NASA's Dale<br />McCarty, SSC<br />machine shop technical manager. "You have to go slow."<br />It took Machinist Jacob McKinley two days to program the computer-controlled<br />machine and<br />about two and a half days to fabricate each piece. The finished products<br />resembled two flat ribs, each<br />roughly 18 inches long and 5 inches wide.<br />His supervisor, Machine Shop Foreman Don Smith, said, "It may not mean much<br />to us today,<br />but when that shuttle flies again, I might be able to say, 'Man! I had a<br />part in that!'"<br />"If they don't use the spanner beams in the test ., they'll go straight into<br />flight inventory<br />(for the Space Shuttle program)," McCarty said.<br />"Either way, it's a big deal," Jermstad said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to<br />return the shuttles to<br />space flight real soon as a result of the tests."<br />More than 500 parts will be manufactured and over 1,500 fasteners used to<br />assemble the test<br />article in just five weeks. SSC was the first center to respond to JSC's<br />requests to produce eight<br />hardware packages.<br />"This really represents the One NASA approach because we're involving<br />several centers,"<br />Jermstad said. "This is a great demonstration of what we can do when we<br />collaborate."<br /> "It was a rush job. JSC put the call out for help," McCarty said. "This is<br />all part of the new<br />fabrication alliance where we can use all of NASA's capabilities across the<br />country."<br />Miguel Rodriguez, director of NASA's Center Operations Directorate at SSC,<br />said, "There is<br />a lot of power behind the belief that we can get things done through the<br />fabrication alliance."<br />Assembly of the test article began May 1 with both JSC and Kennedy Space<br />Center<br />personnel. The joint JSC-KSC will test the panels this month at Southwest<br />Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.<br /> "It's all in memory of Columbia's crew," Petersen said. "We want to find<br />out the truth."<br /><br />-END-