Falling Metal Beam May Have Damaged Space Shuttle Atlantis
The space shuttle Atlantis may have been damaged when a 70-pound metal beam mistakenly left in the craft’s engine room fell as the orbiter was being hoisted into the launch position, sources said today.
With the shuttle Discovery on track for blastoff Saturday, Atlantis is scheduled for launch around Nov. 7 to ferry a military satellite into orbit.
The $2-billion space plane was moved from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building earlier this week for attachment to a pair of solid-fuel boosters and an external fuel tank before rollout to launch pad 39A next week.
A massive yellow sling was attached to Atlantis on Wednesday and two powerful overhead cranes picked the shuttle up and then rotated it into a vertical position so it could be bolted to its tank and boosters.
But as the nose of the shuttle rose, engineers heard at least three distinct thuds apparently coming from inside Atlantis’ engine compartment, according to the sources.
When engineers were able to gain access to the shuttle’s engine room, they found a yellow, nine-foot, 70-pound I-beam resting near the floor of the cramped compartment.
The metal beam, apparently left inside the engine room by mistake, fell through the compartment as Atlantis was rotated into vertical position.
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