2/14/2011 12:17:00 PM
NEWS BRIEFS
Loose Shuttle Payload Fasteners Puzzle NASA Engineers

NASA engineers working on the Space Shuttle STS-135 discovered issues with the fasteners on Atlantis’ SSME dome heat shield, NASASpaceflight.com. The problems were found during inspections out at the launch pad.
 

“Fasteners on all six SSME dome heat shield splice lines were discovered to be loose. Four of the six locations had soft goods in the load path. Nothing unusual was noted during installation and paper verification indicates torque was initially in spec,” noted the NTD report on the observations made on Atlantis.
 

Engineers will check all of the splice plates for loss of torque using a dial type torque wrench. The splice line plates will then be removed and replaced taking extra care to not have any of the blanket or soft goods in the load path. ©2011 GlobalFastenerNews.com

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