Space Shuttle Atlantis Delayed Again

eldavojohn writes "An electrical short cause the space shuttle Atlantis to be delayed since a lightning strike to the pad and Tropical Storm Ernesto caused delays. From the article: 'Liftoff was only hours away Wednesday morning when engineers reported a short in one of three fuel cells that supplies electricity for all the on-board systems, including the crew compartment.' It also points out that 'The faulty cell is currently operational even with the short. But after the 2003 Columbia disaster, which killed all seven astronauts, NASA says it has adopted an aggressive, safety-conscious approach to launching.' It causes one to wonder whether pre-Columbia-disaster NASA would have just replaced the fuel cell on the fly without telling anyone — and whether or not that is an ethically sound choice."

Fuel Cell Supplier

[tygerstripes]

NASA are presently in conference with the fuel-cell's supplier, Dell.

If only.

[rtyall]

I bet they wished they bought Duracell now.

Re:Fuel Cell Supplier

[kingtonm]

Dear Dell Customer,

Dell has identified a potential issue associated with certain batteries sold with the NASA Shuttle(TM) series. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, Dell is voluntarily recalling certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and offering free replacements for these batteries. Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire, explosion, or firey death.

Tell me again, Americans...

[Sunburnt]

...why, exactly, our country's spaceport is still located in a state known for nothing so much as lightning and storms? I'm silly enough to live in Florida right now too, but I'd be moving even sooner if I had a multimillion dollar vehicle parked in my garage. Everything seems to point to Florida's climate worsening throughout the foreseeable future.

Ha, I'm just kidding. Congress would love to see NASA inoperable so they can go back to spending money on bridges to nowhere (Thanks, Ted Stevens!)

Weather.. sure.. right

[saboola]

..or maybe it's the Goa'uld Ha'tak mothership sitting a couple hundred miles above Port Canaveral preventing the launch. You can fool me Nasa, I watch television.

Re:Fuel Cell Supplier

[LiquidCoooled]

If you think thats bad, think about the poor Dell guy who has to replace the ISS batteries.
Nasa were smart and paid for onsite maintenance.

Re:Great timing there...

[lxs]

Thanks for that info. Between the state of the shuttle program and the state of Slashdot, I didn't know whether this was an old article, a dupe or Yet Another Shuttle Delay.

Dupe!!!

[mangu]

How long will Slashdot keep reposting this "Space Shuttle Delayed" story?

Re:Tell me again, Americans...

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree. Florida is such a lousy state, all snakes, bugs, and gators. Half the land is swamp. They get lots of bad weather each year and have had two tropical storms this year plus multiple hurricanes the last two. Most of the people are rude ex-New Yorkers. Disney, which everyone on slashdot hates due to DRM, owns half the state. They are one of the lightning centers of the world.

There really is NO reason to move to Florida. Visit, maybe, but NOT TO MOVE there.

Please don't move there (I only own several houses there...).

Re:Tell me again, Americans...

[clickclickdrone]

>a state known for nothing so much as lightning and storms?
And oranges. It's a well kept secret that rocket fuel is actually distilled orange juice. What colour is the shuttle's fuel tank? Orange. To hide the leaks.

Re:If it's broken ...

[Opportunist]

In a nutshell, better to not go up than to blow up.

Lightning? Phht. I know the fix...

[AsnFkr]

SCE to Aux.

Life Will Never Be Like Star Trek

[aplusjimages]

They should make a Star Trek show that is realistic. The crew never fights other species, but instead are constantly doing maintenance work on the ship. The whole show takes place only 200 miles from Earth because that's as far as they can go before something goes wrong.

It can start off with a captains log, but there's a computer error, so he never gets to complete it. Instead he calls IT to fix the problem. While that's going on the viewer is taken to the engine room where there are all sorts of problems.

I see it as a drama/comedy. There could even be a sick bay that is constantly busy, but the doctors have enough time to have love triangles and all sorts of personal drama amongst the already suspensful disasters.

Re:Tell me again, Americans...

[Intron]

Don't we have some land in Cuba? Are we using it for anything important?