spacetoday.net: No cracks found in shuttle Atlantis

Posted: Wed, Dec 18, 2002, 8:59 AM ET (1359 GMT)
An inspection of liquid oxygen lines in the space shuttle Atlantis found no evidence of cracks like the ones found earlier this month in Discovery. An inspection of Atlantis found that bearings used to support a liquid oxygen line were intact and did not have any cracks like the one found on a bearing in Discovery. The crack in Discovery prompted the check of Atlantis because of concerns that the problem could be a fleet-wide issue like one earlier this year that grounded the shuttle fleet over the summer. Because Atlantis had no problems, there are no plans to inspect Columbia, currently on the launch pad for a mid-January launch.