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good evening thank you for joining us

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here at nasa's kennedy space center in

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florida for this

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sts-133 status briefing following the

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mission management team meeting today

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i'd like to introduce our panelists mike

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moses chair of the pre-launch mission

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management team good evening

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and mike linebach shuttle launch

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director good evening

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i'd like to take just a few minutes to

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have our briefer speak we're going to

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keep this briefing very short so that

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they can go home and get some sleep

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before tomorrow morning mr moses

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thanks henry

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well we had our mmt today we talked for

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a while as we knew we would it was

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basically the culmination of the teams

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working

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for the last 24 hours to pull together

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the story that we have

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uh with regards to this power anomaly we

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saw on the main engine controller

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and again just as a refresher when we

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powered it up uh during a test now

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yesterday morning

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we saw an anomaly uh in the signature

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that was unusual basically one of the

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phases of ac power there's three phases

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on an alternating current circuit uh one

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of those three did not engage and the

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controller therefore did not power up

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about an hour and a half it kind of

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healed itself and started working

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and then about another two hours after

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that we saw a little voltage drop that

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didn't trip anything off but it was at

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the time an unexplained voltage drop and

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that gave us pause

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so we talked overnight and the teams

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brought us a very good story today

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a very nice cohesive flow through the

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data we reviewed the history

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the timeline of the events other

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signatures that have occurred similar to

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this in the past we talked a lot about

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our history and our knowledge of the

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circuit breakers the components in the

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system the switches the wiring

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we talked a lot about the main engine

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controllers themselves

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their tolerance their redundancy

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and then ultimately went to a risk

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presentation of of what do we know about

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the problem what don't we know and is

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that an acceptable condition to to

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proceed with

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at the end of the day uh i'll kind of

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cut to the chase and say we wrapped up

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with uh with a unanimous poll out of the

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mmt uh no dissenting opinions no

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requests for more data everybody was

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very comfortable with the story that

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came together today and again really the

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rationale there is that

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that all evidence points to this being a

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circuit breaker problem so a power

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supply feed problem it's not a

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controller problem so it's not a main

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engine controller so no worries there

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that the main engine controller itself

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is going to have problems later on

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from a power feed standpoint really what

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we saw

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and i'll kind of simplify it but

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basically

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these circuit breakers

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are used in the orbiter we use them as

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uh as switches sometimes you know in

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your home you don't use the circuit

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breaker as the switch to turn the lights

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on and off you have a switch to do that

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um as a design and a weight savings

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feature in some circuits the circuit

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breaker is used as that switch sometimes

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it's because there's ways to send

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multiple power feeds to a given piece of

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equipment and you don't want to switch

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to have all that power sitting right

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next to it you use a circuit breaker to

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do that sometimes it's just more

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convenient and easier to to save wiring

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to do that so in in many instances and

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this is one of those instances that

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circuit breaker is used as a switch now

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there's also a switch

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used to turn it on and off so these

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circuit breakers aren't cycled with

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power

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going to that circuit breaker so they're

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not cycled hot but what we've seen

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historically in the history of the

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program is these circuit breakers

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sometimes don't engage when you push

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them in you don't quite make that

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contact you don't quite get the

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connection

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and we we have a pre-approved

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contingency procedure which we call uh

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basically scrubbing the breaker and you

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you pull it in and out five times

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cycling it

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and then you push it back and you turn

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the power back on and you see what you

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got and uh and in in almost every single

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instance that results in a good

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connection and in fact in every instance

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where we see a good connection of good

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power feed connection that connection

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then stays and lasts and does not give

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us any more troubles

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we went through a lot of failure history

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there were instances where um

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we've had circuit breakers fail to

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engage we scrubbed them pushed them back

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in

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they've engaged we leave that circuit

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breaker in the ship we don't take it out

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and they've flown for 20 years with no

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reoccurrence of that problem that made

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it not quite engaged the first time

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and really what we went through is a lot

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of details

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the act of using the circuit breaker as

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a switch can cause a little bit of build

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up as there's some arcing and some

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current coming back and forth and you

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get a little pitting you get an uneven

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contact surface uh the phenolic in there

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tends to get a little hot and melt and

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you get a little non-metallic

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non-conducting residue that builds up on

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these connectors and by pushing them in

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and out scrubbing them back and forth

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you can knock that off

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so what we think happened in this

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instance was

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that's the scenario we had we had a

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little bit of residue built up on this

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circuit breaker when we first pushed it

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in it did not connect and because of the

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sensitivity to the main engine

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controller rather than immediately

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scrubbing that breaker we sat and talked

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about it while we were talking about it

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the the dielectric basically the circuit

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breaker itself the current overcame the

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little bit of resistance that it was

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facing uh and the impedance that it was

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generating and it made the connection

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and therefore sent power downstream to

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the controller which powered itself up

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and and that resulted in the uh the kind

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of the uh unexpected self-powering of

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the of the uh of the controller that we

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saw yesterday morning now i say

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unexpected that's really very well

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explained now that we understand what

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was what was going on so it's not that

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something unknown was happening

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the the

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the act of scrubbing it we then went and

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scrubbed it when we put it back in we

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looked at the high speed data and found

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that that second power up after we did

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that first set of troubleshooting where

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we scrubbed the breaker showed a little

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bit slow response in the power up as

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well not nearly enough to cause a

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problem but it wasn't quite perfect

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so

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further proof that we probably knocked

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some of that contamination off but we

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didn't quite get it all

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a little after that we had this

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unexpected voltage drop

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again very indicative of the fact that

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there's a little bit of resistance in

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there

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we went through the data i think i

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mentioned yesterday that about a 40 ohm

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resistance in this circuit

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in test the theory actually the model

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shows it only takes a 9 ohm resistance

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to cause the voltage drop we saw so it

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just takes a minor little bit of

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contamination there to cause this

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signature the other piece of data we

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found is this voltage drop is not as

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uncommon as we thought it was it

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actually occurs not often but a fair bit

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as the controller responds to the power

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on the input side a fan kicking on

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the controller itself drawing a little

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more current causes this voltage to kind

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of fluctuate just a little bit the one

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we saw was a little higher magnitude

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than we've seen in the past maybe a

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little longer duration but it was still

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not the only time we've ever seen it

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which is where we were yesterday we

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thought this might have been an only

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time occurrence so another big piece of

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data that got us comfortable today was

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the fact that it's not all that uncommon

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um and so again when we laid it all out

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it all racked up to be pretty clear that

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uh that our most probable cause here is

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that that we had contamination on that

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circuit breaker that we've slowly

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cleared off by scrubbing it in fact

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after we left last night after we left

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the press conference last night we

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scrubbed it five more times those power

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up signatures were perfect just like

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they've been in the past so

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pretty good proof that we've knocked the

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contamination off our history shows us

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that once we do that that is a solid

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connection and it's not going to change

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and therefore we had pretty good

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acceptance rationale today to go fly um

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and so again we kind of went through uh

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all the ins and outs we talked about

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what if we're wrong we talked about all

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the things that could be bad and at the

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end of the day while we don't completely

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understand the failure because we don't

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have it sitting in front of us as a

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failed component

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everybody was comfortable with the with

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the residual risk left that that was an

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acceptable one to take and we do

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understand that anomaly that we had and

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again we're good to fly

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so that takes us to the schedule and

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just try to cut off some of the

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questions right the weather still looks

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really bad for tomorrow but but we're

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going to go ahead and go down to the

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tanking telecon in the morning basically

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at 5 30 in the morning the team's going

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to get together and we'll talk about

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what the latest forecast is we'll see

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what that is um you know if the forecast

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tomorrow morning is still as bad as it

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is today there's a chance we might

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decide not to spend one of our

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opportunities tomorrow but uh but it's

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not it's too early to make that call

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right now we need to see what the

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forecast is 12 hours out it's a whole

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lot better forecast 12 hours out than it

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is 24 out

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especially when that front's not quite

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moving as as much as as we maybe thought

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it was that might be a good thing it

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might be a bad thing but we'll know

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better in the morning what that really

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means to us so gave mike and his team

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the challenge to go have us ready to go

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and with the caveats still that as

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always the weather might make us make a

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different course of action but from the

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vehicle perspective and the mission

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management team we're ready to go and at

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this point kind of turn the reins over

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here to the uh the launch team and

280
00:08:27,830 --> 00:08:26,160
execute uh launch for discovery okay

281
00:08:29,589 --> 00:08:27,840
thanks mike let's see the team in the

282
00:08:31,749 --> 00:08:29,599
firing room is doing doing really well

283
00:08:33,750 --> 00:08:31,759
um the additional hole we added to the

284
00:08:36,230 --> 00:08:33,760
countdown is presents no problem to us

285
00:08:37,750 --> 00:08:36,240
at all we recycled uh some mid deck

286
00:08:39,430 --> 00:08:37,760
experiments to refresh them so

287
00:08:41,430 --> 00:08:39,440
essentially when we get into countdown

288
00:08:43,509 --> 00:08:41,440
tomorrow we'll be in a first first

289
00:08:45,829 --> 00:08:43,519
launch countdown posture

290
00:08:47,509 --> 00:08:45,839
we wanted to rotate the rotating service

291
00:08:49,509 --> 00:08:47,519
structure to the park position tonight

292
00:08:50,550 --> 00:08:49,519
at about 6 30 and we got we got held up

293
00:08:52,790 --> 00:08:50,560
because of

294
00:08:55,430 --> 00:08:52,800
a phase one lightning concern in the

295
00:08:57,590 --> 00:08:55,440
area so we're on hold for the rss right

296
00:08:58,870 --> 00:08:57,600
now that that's not a big concern for us

297
00:09:00,470 --> 00:08:58,880
talking to the range weather before i

298
00:09:02,230 --> 00:09:00,480
came into this briefing

299
00:09:04,310 --> 00:09:02,240
kathy winters expects that to last an

300
00:09:05,750 --> 00:09:04,320
hour maybe an hour and a half or so and

301
00:09:07,990 --> 00:09:05,760
we should be able to get the rss

302
00:09:09,910 --> 00:09:08,000
retracted in about an hour and that's

303
00:09:11,509 --> 00:09:09,920
that's no issue for us

304
00:09:13,030 --> 00:09:11,519
the rest of the countdown is is very

305
00:09:15,110 --> 00:09:13,040
very nominal for us we're looking for

306
00:09:17,430 --> 00:09:15,120
the opening launch window at 15 24

307
00:09:19,990 --> 00:09:17,440
tomorrow afternoon eastern time

308
00:09:21,829 --> 00:09:20,000
team's in great shape ready to execute

309
00:09:23,350 --> 00:09:21,839
i just might add to the to uh the

310
00:09:25,190 --> 00:09:23,360
mission management team discussion you

311
00:09:27,350 --> 00:09:25,200
know from my perspective it sounds very

312
00:09:28,949 --> 00:09:27,360
very good the flight rationale is solid

313
00:09:30,710 --> 00:09:28,959
uh scrubbing off circuit breakers is

314
00:09:32,630 --> 00:09:30,720
something we do very very standard

315
00:09:34,949 --> 00:09:32,640
process here at ksc we have a procedure

316
00:09:36,949 --> 00:09:34,959
to do that so it really truly sounds

317
00:09:38,150 --> 00:09:36,959
like like we've got the culprit and and

318
00:09:39,350 --> 00:09:38,160
we've cleaned it off and we should be

319
00:09:40,949 --> 00:09:39,360
good to go

320
00:09:41,990 --> 00:09:40,959
so team's ready to execute and we'll

321
00:09:43,750 --> 00:09:42,000
come in in the morning and see if the

322
00:09:45,030 --> 00:09:43,760
weather permits a tanking and a launch

323
00:09:45,910 --> 00:09:45,040
attempt tomorrow

324
00:09:47,829 --> 00:09:45,920
thanks

325
00:09:49,269 --> 00:09:47,839
thank you we have time for just a few

326
00:09:51,190 --> 00:09:49,279
questions when the microphone comes your

327
00:09:52,389 --> 00:09:51,200
way state your name affiliation to whom

328
00:09:55,990 --> 00:09:52,399
you're addressing your question we'll

329
00:09:59,509 --> 00:09:57,910
bill harwood cbs news for either one of

330
00:10:00,389 --> 00:09:59,519
you uh you guys were talking yesterday

331
00:10:02,069 --> 00:10:00,399
about

332
00:10:03,670 --> 00:10:02,079
uh not overstressing the launch team and

333
00:10:05,190 --> 00:10:03,680
i'm just curious what the forecast being

334
00:10:06,870 --> 00:10:05,200
what it is and the fact that these guys

335
00:10:08,470 --> 00:10:06,880
have been working pretty hard

336
00:10:10,310 --> 00:10:08,480
over the last day

337
00:10:11,829 --> 00:10:10,320
uh to generate all this data give you

338
00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:11,839
guys this presentation and then go home

339
00:10:14,790 --> 00:10:13,920
and come back in a couple of hours to

340
00:10:17,030 --> 00:10:14,800
tank

341
00:10:18,710 --> 00:10:17,040
with a pretty bad outlook why not wave

342
00:10:20,389 --> 00:10:18,720
off a day right now

343
00:10:21,910 --> 00:10:20,399
well we talked to the team that put

344
00:10:23,670 --> 00:10:21,920
together all the charts today and and

345
00:10:25,190 --> 00:10:23,680
really the the team that's going to come

346
00:10:27,350 --> 00:10:25,200
in tomorrow morning and fuel the

347
00:10:29,190 --> 00:10:27,360
vehicles is a different team now there

348
00:10:31,110 --> 00:10:29,200
are some there are some people that were

349
00:10:32,710 --> 00:10:31,120
at the presentation all day long today

350
00:10:35,030 --> 00:10:32,720
and have to cycle back in tomorrow

351
00:10:37,670 --> 00:10:35,040
morning but it's just a handful of folks

352
00:10:39,110 --> 00:10:37,680
and so that's not an issue we also asked

353
00:10:41,110 --> 00:10:39,120
if the team would be prepared for three

354
00:10:42,790 --> 00:10:41,120
in a row if that if that should become

355
00:10:44,069 --> 00:10:42,800
necessary if we don't tank tomorrow for

356
00:10:46,710 --> 00:10:44,079
whatever reason

357
00:10:48,870 --> 00:10:46,720
and wave that off would we be able to go

358
00:10:50,630 --> 00:10:48,880
three in a row and given the one day

359
00:10:52,230 --> 00:10:50,640
additional time in the countdown uh

360
00:10:53,829 --> 00:10:52,240
people cycled back we were essentially

361
00:10:55,269 --> 00:10:53,839
in a babysitting mode in the firing room

362
00:10:56,949 --> 00:10:55,279
so everybody got

363
00:10:59,190 --> 00:10:56,959
a good day off we made sure that

364
00:11:00,949 --> 00:10:59,200
everybody is working to the to our work

365
00:11:02,470 --> 00:11:00,959
rules that we have in place

366
00:11:04,470 --> 00:11:02,480
so right now i don't see an issue with

367
00:11:06,630 --> 00:11:04,480
uh with tomorrow certainly and even if

368
00:11:08,470 --> 00:11:06,640
we get into a three in a row scenario

369
00:11:10,710 --> 00:11:08,480
we always ask the team before that third

370
00:11:12,230 --> 00:11:10,720
attempt if they're ready to go um and we

371
00:11:13,750 --> 00:11:12,240
would do that again of course but but

372
00:11:15,750 --> 00:11:13,760
the pre-planning for that says we should

373
00:11:16,630 --> 00:11:15,760
be fine

374
00:11:20,150 --> 00:11:16,640
james

375
00:11:22,870 --> 00:11:20,160
three in a row what you expect you you

376
00:11:23,829 --> 00:11:22,880
would attempt uh

377
00:11:26,389 --> 00:11:23,839
you know depending on what happens

378
00:11:29,350 --> 00:11:26,399
tomorrow or depends it's early to say

379
00:11:31,430 --> 00:11:29,360
what is your latest on uh your your last

380
00:11:32,630 --> 00:11:31,440
possible launch option and

381
00:11:33,910 --> 00:11:32,640
you know yeah we're talking about the

382
00:11:36,069 --> 00:11:33,920
window and extending the window out i

383
00:11:38,470 --> 00:11:36,079
mentioned that a couple times um uh

384
00:11:39,750 --> 00:11:38,480
right now the the it looks like there's

385
00:11:40,870 --> 00:11:39,760
there's potential there to make that

386
00:11:43,430 --> 00:11:40,880
happen but some of the hurdles are

387
00:11:44,870 --> 00:11:43,440
pretty big um and and so right now the

388
00:11:48,470 --> 00:11:44,880
the posture is that we're not going to

389
00:11:49,990 --> 00:11:48,480
pursue that um and again uh i say that

390
00:11:51,829 --> 00:11:50,000
and then we always have the caveat that

391
00:11:53,269 --> 00:11:51,839
we might find a way to make it work but

392
00:11:56,629 --> 00:11:53,279
uh right now it looks like the the

393
00:11:57,829 --> 00:11:56,639
seventh is still our last launch attempt

394
00:12:01,430 --> 00:11:57,839
marcia

395
00:12:02,790 --> 00:12:01,440
questions have been

396
00:12:03,829 --> 00:12:02,800
asked but i'll come up with something

397
00:12:04,710 --> 00:12:03,839
here

398
00:12:07,670 --> 00:12:04,720
um

399
00:12:09,910 --> 00:12:07,680
you know we've been reminiscing for the

400
00:12:11,509 --> 00:12:09,920
last week about discovery's last launch

401
00:12:13,190 --> 00:12:11,519
mike yesterday you said that you know

402
00:12:15,350 --> 00:12:13,200
she doesn't want to go out quietly and

403
00:12:17,990 --> 00:12:15,360
or easily um

404
00:12:19,910 --> 00:12:18,000
any mention of that today or any new

405
00:12:22,470 --> 00:12:19,920
reflection on any of that

406
00:12:23,590 --> 00:12:22,480
no there's there's no talk in the in the

407
00:12:25,190 --> 00:12:23,600
briefing today

408
00:12:27,110 --> 00:12:25,200
about discoveries last flight it was all

409
00:12:29,269 --> 00:12:27,120
about the anomaly and and do we

410
00:12:31,430 --> 00:12:29,279
understand it and and are we safe to fly

411
00:12:34,550 --> 00:12:31,440
an answer to that is yes so now there

412
00:12:37,030 --> 00:12:34,560
was no reflection to that meeting at all

413
00:12:38,710 --> 00:12:37,040
greg dobbs with hd net television can

414
00:12:40,389 --> 00:12:38,720
you give us a picture if if you can give

415
00:12:42,230 --> 00:12:40,399
us a picture of the scrubbing what does

416
00:12:44,230 --> 00:12:42,240
this actually mean i mean sort of i'm

417
00:12:45,350 --> 00:12:44,240
picturing a switch going in and out and

418
00:12:47,829 --> 00:12:45,360
the residue

419
00:12:50,150 --> 00:12:47,839
gets pushed off by the uh the female in

420
00:12:51,910 --> 00:12:50,160
the male-female relationship it's

421
00:12:53,910 --> 00:12:51,920
actually a um

422
00:12:55,509 --> 00:12:53,920
it's a metal to metal contact so there's

423
00:12:57,350 --> 00:12:55,519
the the passive part of the circuit

424
00:12:58,710 --> 00:12:57,360
breaker is two flat metal plates and

425
00:13:01,190 --> 00:12:58,720
then the active part the plunger that

426
00:13:03,030 --> 00:13:01,200
moves in and out has two concave mating

427
00:13:04,710 --> 00:13:03,040
surfaces on it so you're literally

428
00:13:06,310 --> 00:13:04,720
pushing those two metal contacts

429
00:13:08,629 --> 00:13:06,320
together and then pulling them back

430
00:13:10,710 --> 00:13:08,639
apart so the act of pushing them in and

431
00:13:12,710 --> 00:13:10,720
and the the mechanical force of doing

432
00:13:16,069 --> 00:13:12,720
that knocks any debris that's built up

433
00:13:18,310 --> 00:13:16,079
on that metallic contact off

434
00:13:22,470 --> 00:13:18,320
yes yes

435
00:13:25,910 --> 00:13:24,710
hi mark kirkman interspace news uh some

436
00:13:27,509 --> 00:13:25,920
of us were out of the pads we missed

437
00:13:29,269 --> 00:13:27,519
part of your briefing uh

438
00:13:31,190 --> 00:13:29,279
if you covered it or if not could you

439
00:13:32,710 --> 00:13:31,200
explain what you'll do if you i know you

440
00:13:34,230 --> 00:13:32,720
don't expect to see a reoccurrence but

441
00:13:35,910 --> 00:13:34,240
if you do see the same transit even

442
00:13:37,350 --> 00:13:35,920
though it's within whibits what's the

443
00:13:39,030 --> 00:13:37,360
plan during the count if you see that

444
00:13:42,389 --> 00:13:39,040
again

445
00:13:44,389 --> 00:13:42,399
um yeah we talked about that

446
00:13:46,150 --> 00:13:44,399
no we didn't um so yeah we talked that a

447
00:13:47,430 --> 00:13:46,160
little bit the team has talked that we

448
00:13:49,189 --> 00:13:47,440
didn't bring it up at the mmt too much

449
00:13:51,030 --> 00:13:49,199
but basically the plan would be we we

450
00:13:52,870 --> 00:13:51,040
talked about it um

451
00:13:54,710 --> 00:13:52,880
the the the thing that uh that we

452
00:13:55,829 --> 00:13:54,720
discussed today that was kind of the new

453
00:13:58,230 --> 00:13:55,839
data we didn't have from yesterday is

454
00:14:00,389 --> 00:13:58,240
that these momentary voltage dips

455
00:14:02,870 --> 00:14:00,399
uh of a couple volts on this composite

456
00:14:04,870 --> 00:14:02,880
voltage at the controller itself are not

457
00:14:06,790 --> 00:14:04,880
as uncommon as we thought they were and

458
00:14:08,870 --> 00:14:06,800
that they're actually not regular but

459
00:14:10,870 --> 00:14:08,880
they're they can be tied to an event in

460
00:14:13,829 --> 00:14:10,880
the ac feed upstream or they can be tied

461
00:14:15,269 --> 00:14:13,839
to a controller uh issue itself so so

462
00:14:18,150 --> 00:14:15,279
from that standpoint seeing another

463
00:14:19,509 --> 00:14:18,160
little anomaly of of a current uh or a

464
00:14:20,629 --> 00:14:19,519
voltage drop-off

465
00:14:22,150 --> 00:14:20,639
might not be

466
00:14:23,350 --> 00:14:22,160
a reason to pause we are most certainly

467
00:14:25,030 --> 00:14:23,360
going to talk about it make sure we

468
00:14:26,949 --> 00:14:25,040
understand it that it doesn't violate

469
00:14:29,030 --> 00:14:26,959
any of the the understanding we have as

470
00:14:30,389 --> 00:14:29,040
we go into this anomaly and that nothing

471
00:14:32,069 --> 00:14:30,399
in those conditions have changed

472
00:14:34,389 --> 00:14:32,079
but it's not an automatic

473
00:14:35,509 --> 00:14:34,399
punt and and run with your hair on fire

474
00:14:37,750 --> 00:14:35,519
we're going to talk through just like we

475
00:14:39,110 --> 00:14:37,760
would any other problem so we did get a

476
00:14:41,350 --> 00:14:39,120
a little further today to understand

477
00:14:43,910 --> 00:14:41,360
again the concept of of

478
00:14:45,750 --> 00:14:43,920
of what the signature likely is now if

479
00:14:47,750 --> 00:14:45,760
we saw something that showed us that

480
00:14:48,710 --> 00:14:47,760
that this contact is degrading and that

481
00:14:50,150 --> 00:14:48,720
the uh

482
00:14:52,949 --> 00:14:50,160
the the connection that the circuit

483
00:14:54,949 --> 00:14:52,959
breaker is making is now becoming uh no

484
00:14:56,949 --> 00:14:54,959
longer a valid solid connection that

485
00:14:58,629 --> 00:14:56,959
would violate what we kind of used as

486
00:15:01,590 --> 00:14:58,639
our is our rationale today and we would

487
00:15:03,550 --> 00:15:01,600
most certainly stop and talk about that

488
00:15:06,870 --> 00:15:03,560
that's all the time we have for the

489
00:15:08,870 --> 00:15:06,880
sts-133 status briefing

490
00:15:11,910 --> 00:15:08,880
launch coverage will begin tomorrow

491
00:15:13,509 --> 00:15:11,920
morning at 6 00 a.m eastern time live on

492
00:15:15,629 --> 00:15:13,519
nasa television with the beginning of

493
00:15:18,150 --> 00:15:15,639
tanking for more information on the

494
00:15:20,870 --> 00:15:18,160
sts-133 mission and crew please visit