New GUCP to be Installed Today, Foam to be Trimmed

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center, teams will begin installing space shuttle Discovery's new ground umbilical carrier plate, or GUCP, this morning. Engineers will meet today to analyze data. Teams plan to have the GUCP work completed over the weekend.

Technicians will trim the foam insulation around the area where two cracks were found on Discovery's external fuel tank metal exterior to inspect the surrounding areas. The cracks were found on the stringer, which is the aluminum strip that forms the section between the liquid oxygen tank and the liquid hydrogen tank, after removing foam that cracked during initial loading operations for the STS-133 launch attempt on Nov. 5.