Shuttle Again Grounded as Computer Fails
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — It was Strike 4 for NASA’s oldest space shuttle. A computer failed late in the countdown Saturday and grounded Columbia, already plagued by sluggish hydraulics, leaking fuel, even a hurricane.
The flight was not rescheduled. Launch director James Harrington expected a delay of at least a week.
NASA came within half an hour of liftoff, but a computer needed to process vital commands for Columbia’s solid-fuel rocket boosters and fuel tank simply would not work.
The failed computer, called a master events controller, is supposed to process commands for igniting the rocket boosters. It also controls separation of the spent boosters two minutes into the flight and the fuel tank six minutes later. There are two such controllers. The failed one is the prime one and will have to be replaced.
Friday’s launch attempt was ruined by an inadequate amount of fluid in a hydraulic line, apparently the result of worker error. A fuel leak and Hurricane Opal caused earlier delays.
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