Discovery Prepared For Dec. 15 Tanking Test

By Mark Carreau

HOUSTON — NASA is targeting Dec. 15 for a launch pad tanking test of the shuttle Discovery, as part of a long-running effort to determine the cause of small cracks in the stringer region of the external tank.

Four cracks were found in adjacent 21-ft.-long aluminum lithium stringers following a Nov. 5 launch abort due to an unrelated hydrogen leak. The successful Dec. 8 launch of ...

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