Potential Delay In Shuttle Schedule

Is it not possible to repressurize the shuttle to cause expansion again, and combine this with the dry-ice method? Is there a vacuum facility large enough to accommodate the shuttle to maximize that expansion? Or orient the shuttle in a way that its weight shifts the window from the panel?

Suggest using a "fiber laser" which is flexible and comes as small as 4 mm diameter to cut through the knob.

Seal a box over the window and pump it down to rough vacuum.

Re; Stuck knob

If the knob got stuck somehow during on-orbit operations because the orbiter expanded due to the pressure differential, why not just pressurize the orbiter on the ground to the same delta P as on orbit? If it got in that way, maybe it could come out that way.

The best pressure differential the team can reliably achieve is 2 psia. It is doubtful that will provide sufficient clearance to remove the knob.

Tell the crew you broke it, you fix it...

psia?

psia (pounds-force per square inch absolute) — gauge pressure plus local atmospheric pressure.

psid (psi difference) — difference between two pressures.

psig (pounds-force per square inch gauge).

psivg (psi vented gauge).

psisg (psi sealed gauge.

wow...

Atlantis ain't goin' nowhere soon...

There's a knob joke here, but it's way to obvious.

Pawn:

If you do not know what "psia" is, you probably should not be visiting this website.

Lee Holmes

"The best pressure differential the team can reliably achieve is 2 psia."

Mr. Holmes, please read the above sentence. If it makes sense, you have a future at NASA.

And I would say that if you can't tell when to use psi, psid, or psia in a given situation, as apparently neither you nor Edward knows, then you shouldn't be coming here either. However that would be incredibly elitist, so I will refrain. I would just kindly explain it to you, but apparently that's not what you guys do here.

But good job knowing what letters stand for, that's important!

Why not just retire Atlantis? We only need two orbiters to fly out the manifest anyway. When is management going to get it? This program is going away in less than 18 months. It's time to start phasing things out.