Posted on 07/03/2006 8:37:16 AM PDT by saganite
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inspectors found a 5-inch-long crack in the foam insulation covering the shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank, and NASA managers were deciding Monday whether to call off the scheduled Fourth of July launch.
The crack was spotted during an overnight inspection. NASA had scrubbed launch plans Saturday and Sunday because of poor weather and had removed fuel from the tank.
The inspectors found the crack, which was an eighth of an inch deep, in the foam on a bracket near the top of the external fuel tank.
"We don't know if it's a problem or not," NASA spokesman George Diller said Monday.
Officials were meeting to determine whether it could be fixed for a Tuesday liftoff.
If NASA decides to go ahead with the launch Tuesday, it would be the first manned launch by the United States on the nation's birthday, and only the second liftoff of a space shuttle since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Concerns about cracks in the fuel tank's foam insulation have dogged the program since Columbia exploded over Texas on Feb. 1, 2003. A chunk of flyaway foam had damaged Columbia's wing during liftoff, allowing superheated gas to penetrate the shuttle when it re-entered the atmosphere.
NASA tried to fix the problem before trying another launch, but more foam broke off Discovery's redesigned tank last July, barely missing the shuttle.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin decided the shuttle should go into orbit despite the concerns of two top agency managers who wanted additional repairs to the foam insulation.
The mission for Discovery's crew this time is to test shuttle-inspection techniques, deliver supplies to the international space station and drop off German astronaut Thomas Reiter for a six-month stay.
The weather forecast for a Tuesday liftoff was better than it was on Sunday or Monday, with a 40 percent chance that storms at launch time would prevent liftoff, said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Kaleb Nordgren, a shuttle weather forecaster. NASA planned to make launch attempts on Tuesday and on Wednesday if necessary.
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It's been a long time since my time on the project, but I don't think it was meant to be in service this long.
What are they saying?
sounds like they are going to launch tomorrow...
Yak, yak, yak.....
It _sounds_ like they're going to launch...but they're hedging their bets with the meeting at 6:30 ET tonight.
As one who worked very closely with NASA in Huntsville, AL - Houston, TX and Cape Canaveral, FL, I can tell you the NASA of today is "not as good as the original" NASA of decades ago.
NASA has suffered the damage that occurs in almost every Government Bureaucracy focused on the appearance of competency and compliance with politically correct social experiments and junk science --- it becomes incompetent and dangerous to the public welfare.
Semper Fi
The team that found the foam disturbance use telescopes to view the tanks etc. They think the foam fell off in one piece, as the tank expanded and contracted during fuel offloading.
That was expected all along, I'd still go with launch.
BTW, if they launch tomorrow, on Thurs I will get a great view of the shuttle and ISS flying across my night sky.
I would agree wholeheartedly.
I was working at NASA Ames when one researcher glumy announced one day that NASA had reached a milestone: one bureaucrat for every researcher.
Let's see, am I surprised by this revelation? Ummmmmmmm, uaaaaaaaaaaaa, let me seeeeeeeeee, nope I'm not even a teensy weensy bit surprised.
I can't believe that in 30 years, with all the great minds that NASA has and has had, that they couldn't come up with a better design. Probably should have called Burt Rutan a couple decades ago.
It sounds like we're getting ready to shave the damned thing.
NBC News: NASA to announce it will attempt shuttle launch Tuesday
30.. no, OVER 30 years ago NASA was overrun by bureaucrats and functionaries. The great minds still there have no doubt come up with better designs, but were likely overruled by one political(ly correct) consideration or another.
"Foam" is a catchall term describing a manufacturing process/result. You wouldn't want to shave with this "foam" -- it's not fluid (think Styrofoam), and it has to remain intact through some "dynamic vibrations" and pressures during ascent that would likely kill you were you alongside it.
I return you to your brewski. *\;-)
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