Discovery has a successful second fuel tank test

Discovery has a successful second fuel tank test

The Space Shuttle scheduled to leave for space in the middle of the month of July passed the second fuel test with flying colors. Now, the NASA can start putting on the final upgrades as planned before returning the shuttle to its fleet. In a teleconference with the media, shuttle program manager Bill Parsons had this to say: “We had just a perfect test as far as I’m concerned”.

It has been more than 2 years that a shuttle flew to the space. Columbia incident changed a lot for NASA. And this Space Shuttle launch is one of the most important one for them to prove that they do have the capacity to have a secure journey to space. During the first test of the fuel system of the Discovery Shuttle, some potentially serious problems surfaced. That led to the NASA deciding to go in for another test.

However, in spite of this successful testing of the fueling system… NASA would still be swapping its tank and twin boosters with the ones planned for a future flight of the Atlantis. In addition, both the tanks would be outfitted with an additional heater to prevent ice formations near the top of the tank to make the launch as secure as possible.

Discovery Space Shuttle is scheduled to leave for assembly building early next week.