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NASA picks July 1 for shuttle flight
Yahoo News ^
| June 17, 2006
| MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
Posted on 06/17/2006 1:34:37 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
NASA managers on Saturday picked July 1 to launch the first space shuttle in almost a year for a test-flight mission that will try out inspection methods and repairs that were devised following the Columbia disaster.
The launch of the seven crew members aboard Discovery in early July improved the chances that the 12-day mission would be extended by a day to add an important third spacewalk. The launch date was picked after two days of meetings by scores of NASA's top managers and engineers at the Kennedy Space Center.
The most contentious debate at the meeting focused on whether the shuttle's external tank should undergo further changes in 34 areas called ice-frost ramps. About 35 pounds of foam already have been removed from an area of the tank where a 1-pound piece of foam fell off during last July's launch of Discovery. NASA described it as the aerodynamic change ever made to the shuttle's launch system.
Some members of NASA's safety office said at the meeting that the shuttle shouldn't fly until more foam around the ice-frost ramps are removed. Top managers, however, countered that the shuttle should fly with only one major modification to the tank at a time.
"At the end of the day, some people had reservations and they expressed their reservations," said Wayne Hale, NASA's space shuttle program manager.
Flying foam off the external tank struck a wing of Columbia during its launch in 2003, allowing fiery gases to enter the shuttle and kill the seven-member crew members during descent.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Florida; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: columbia; discovery; nasa; spaceshuttle; thefinalfrontier
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I think we'll all be holding our d**ks watching this one! (please pardon the vulgarity)
To: Chi-townChief
2
posted on
06/17/2006 1:45:29 PM PDT
by
OldFriend
(I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.....and My Heart to the Soldier Who Protects It.)
To: Chi-townChief
I don't know you, but I will be crossing my fingers.
3
posted on
06/17/2006 1:48:10 PM PDT
by
JRios1968
(There's 3 kinds of people in this world...those who know math and those who don't.)
To: Chi-townChief
More like holding our wallets. Sorry, buy this is nothing more than NASA wasting the taxpayers money! Whats the mission this time? The effect of zero gravity on rat turds?
1903 - 1969 - 63 years from the first flight to landing on the moon!
1977 - 2006 - Almost 30 years of a gliding truck.
4
posted on
06/17/2006 1:49:02 PM PDT
by
Bommer
(Attention illegals: Why don't you do the jobs we can't do? Like fix your own countries problems!)
To: Chi-townChief
I'll be in Cocoa Beach that weekend.
I can't wait to see that sight!
5
posted on
06/17/2006 1:49:38 PM PDT
by
GatorGirl
To: JRios1968
To: GatorGirl
Cocoa Beach = great town!
To: Two Thirds Vote Aye
Ping to this article, Two Thirds.
8
posted on
06/17/2006 1:53:26 PM PDT
by
Peach
(Iraq/AlQaeda relationship http://markeichenlaub.blogspot.com/2006/06/strategic-relationship-between.)
To: Chi-townChief; leadpenny
I want to hold my keyboard instead!!
lp, ping.
9
posted on
06/17/2006 1:55:19 PM PDT
by
Springman
To: Bommer
Whats the mission this time? The effect of zero gravity on rat turds?
Good news, everyone! The rat turd study will be on the following Shuttle mission!
10
posted on
06/17/2006 1:58:09 PM PDT
by
JRios1968
(There's 3 kinds of people in this world...those who know math and those who don't.)
To: Bommer
All of the NASA brass should be sacked. Pathetic bureaucrats with no true cognition of what built that agency. I'll take Scaled Composites and SpaceX over these hacks any day. Bring back Chris Kraft and his ilk.
11
posted on
06/17/2006 2:15:52 PM PDT
by
mgstarr
To: Chi-townChief
I bet it won't fly. Which is a good thing if it happens because the shuttle should not be flying ever again.
12
posted on
06/17/2006 2:31:58 PM PDT
by
isthisnickcool
(What is it about "illegal" you don't understand?)
To: KevinDavis
13
posted on
06/17/2006 2:36:18 PM PDT
by
Howlin
To: Chi-townChief
Big weekend for central Florida that weekend with the Pepsi 400 being run on July 2 at Daytona and the space shuttle being launched on July 1. Wish I could be there.
To: Bommer
1903 - 1969 - 63 years With math skills like that, you could get a job designing satellites for NASA. < insert obligatory comment about publik skulez here >
15
posted on
06/17/2006 2:56:56 PM PDT
by
PAR35
To: Chi-townChief
I'm still waiting for arrests and prosecutions in the Columbia fiasco.
16
posted on
06/17/2006 3:03:39 PM PDT
by
newzjunkey
(Support Arnold-McClintock or embrace higher taxes with Angelides.)
To: PAR35
Your right. I made a mistake. 66 years! Thank you kind Math Nazi.
17
posted on
06/17/2006 3:10:35 PM PDT
by
Bommer
(Attention illegals: Why don't you do the jobs we can't do? Like fix your own countries problems!)
To: Bommer
"Your right. I made a mistake. 66 years! Thank you kind Math Nazi." It's "you're right."
grammar nazi :)
18
posted on
06/17/2006 3:22:05 PM PDT
by
realpatriot
(Some spelling errers entionally included!)
To: realpatriot
DAMMIT! I was saving that for PAR35!
19
posted on
06/17/2006 3:24:59 PM PDT
by
Bommer
(Attention illegals: Why don't you do the jobs we can't do? Like fix your own countries problems!)
To: Chi-townChief
Someone take the Space Shuttle program behind the back of the woodshed and give it a double tap to the head.
20
posted on
06/17/2006 3:30:35 PM PDT
by
SkyPilot
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