Space Shuttle Fleet Grounded!

NASA sources | MB26

[MindBender26]

NASA realizes debris that fell of external fuel tank yesterday came close to causing irrepairable damage to shuttle now in orbit.

Fleet GROUNDED. More later

Chances to return to flight again, no better than 50/50.

[numberonepal]

Since the Russians don't have and orbiter, they don't have the problems.

Kinda like the pencil and "zero G pen" story.

[MinorityRepublican]

For military reasons I doubt that the U.S. government will ever willingly surrender space travel to other countries or completely to the private sector. The "can-do" spirit will come back shortly after millions of Americans watch a French, Russian or Chinese flag planted on another planet.

It won't be the French unless you believe that Muslims from Algeria are capable of building a rocket. For the Russians, maybe but only if they get their act together.

Chi-Coms? A high possiblity and that is where I would place my bet on.

Not the Americans, unfortunately.

[Right Wing Assault]

We ought to strap a few orbiters on a Saturn V. THAT should get a bit more altitude.

[numberonepal]

When it was built, the only source of titanium in large enough quantities was the Soviet Union.

I did not know that.

[dirtbiker]

Parsons: "I can't say what the impact of this is." Shuttles can't fly with this large size foam coming off, he added. The problem must be dealt with before the next launch can occur...

Here's a thought....could the foam insulation be applied to the INSIDE of the tank? All this stuff does is keep the liquid O2 and H2 from getting too warm, causing dangerously high tank pressures.

[RightWhale]

That's a true fact. While we have made great strides in welding and machining titanium in the meantime, the Russians were so advanced they were making coat hangers out of titanium just for the heck of it.

[Fitzcarraldo]

could the foam insulation be applied to the INSIDE of the tank?

My guess is the cold temps would cause the insulation to shatter and get into the fuel lines. Another idea is to seal the insulation on the outside, but the extra weight would probably render the shuttle to heavy to carry payload to orbit.

[Dont Mention the War]

My humble opinion: this kind of thing with debris has happened on every flight for years, and has only become evident with the lenses of 107 high resolution cameras trained on the shuttle.

DING DING DING DING DING! No more calls folks, we have a winner!

You could own a full-blown Hummer H1, and you'd never let your teenaged son take it out of the driveway after the first time you watched him drive with 107 cameras monitoring his every move.

This is like some bizarro version of the Nanny State at work.

[golas1964]

There's a restored Saturn V on display (indoors - one of three still remaining) at KSC. It's HUGE! Would be fun to see one fly again. But the old technology/infrastructure/knowhow to do it doesn't exist anymore.

[Fitzcarraldo]

It appears that one group of managers (the newest ones) at NASA have handed another group of managers the rope needed to hang themselves. In a way, this is refreshing.

[rawhide]

'Is this the newer environmentally friendly foam that has failed since pretty much since it was installed?'

That is what I was thinking.

[newzjunkey]

This is not surprising. NASA is full of incompetence.

[newzjunkey]

This is not surprising. NASA is full of incompetence.

[knak]

Then it's off to 20 hours of darkness and 40 below,

Glad I got out when I did! Well sorta, it's been 95 here all week.

[cake_crumb]

"I thought he meant the democrats!"

Thus the question of whether he forgot the sarcasm tag

[golas1964]

Very early on the tank was painted white. (over the orange foam) Then they decided not to paint it and save 400 pounds for more payload. Maybe a smooth layer of paint is the answer again. My short term vote is to bring back freon, etc.

[higgmeister]

My guess is that "grounded" means no more liftoffs until the problem of shedding foam is resolved. Reports appear to indicate that Discovery was not hurt by that piece of foam shed. Detail inspection of Discovery is scheduled for later, and an decisions relating to re-entry of Discovery were planned to wait until that examination anyway.

Has anyone pointed out yet that the Shuttle Fleet was
grounded 2 1/2 years ago and that hasn't changed with
one test launch? I've been looking at the mission lists for
months and everyone has said launch date "under review."

Why does anyone think this is news?

[cake_crumb]

"NASA is full of incompetence."

Yep. Science and politics don't mix, and science and PC politics is downright deadly. We can't have technology built by consensus because it tends to fall apart when put into use. We need to go back to designing things that work, rather than designing things to give special interest groups a case of the warm fuzzies, IMO.

[norton]

"I find it absolutely incredible that there is -no- "second generation" space vehicle let alone even a worthwhile plan in place -now-. Nothing!"

A 'new' version or two, using similar launch process, were proposed over 15 years ago in conjunction with original Space Station concept.

Too expensive and too much impact on infrastructure.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Then this is a "grounding extension". The only choice they have is seal the insulation so that it can't break off (decreasing payload capacity) or cancel the program - another "insulation event" will not be permitted.