NASA Installs Borrowed Unit in Discovery
Engineers installed a borrowed electrical control unit in space shuttle Discovery on Thursday, and NASA said it was proceeding on a tight schedule toward a Thanksgiving Eve launching.
Discovery’s five astronauts will deploy a classified Pentagon satellite, reportedly to eavesdrop on military and diplomatic communications.
The launching had been scheduled for next Monday night but was postponed until Wednesday after an electronic unit destined for another shuttle shorted out. Engineers blamed faulty wiring and decided to check all other such units.
In doing so, NASA found a unit with suspect wiring in one of Discovery’s solid fuel booster rockets and replaced it with a unit taken from the shuttle Columbia.
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