Posted on 06/12/2007 4:48:53 PM PDT by XBob
Space Shuttle's Left Wing May Be Damaged Meteorite, Space Junk May Have Struck Panels
POSTED: 5:13 pm EDT June 12, 2007 UPDATED: 7:00 pm EDT June 12, 2007 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts WASHINGTON -- A meteorite or space junk may have struck Space Shuttle Atlantis' left wing, according to NBC News space correspondent Jay Barbree.
NASA recorded a hit on reinforced carbon panels 7 and 8 on the left wing. The panels keep heat from re-entry from burning the spacecraft.
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This is the same area where foam damaged Columbia's left wing and caused it to break up, killing its crew on Feb. 1, 2003.
For what it’s worth, the New Horizons mission to Pluto cost $650 million, of which $200-$250 million was the launch cost. That $650 million includes operations from Phase A studies in 2001 through Pluto encounter in 2015 and post-encounter data analysis. Either way, that’s just over half a billion spent over the course of 15 years, versus $0.5-$1 billion per shuttle launch.
IIRC, satellites on the shuttle do not incur a launch cost, as an incentive to launch from the shuttle instead of unmanned boosters. Maybe that policy has changed post-Columbia, though.
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