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Firstly the chemical composition of the foam insulation was changed recently due to the ban on the use of freon.

It's absolutely moronic that NASA would have to use substandard materials because of environmental wackoism. It wouldn't have bothered me in the least if they had decided the best material for the job was spraying asbestos over everything. Freon? Freon? Freon? I have no words for the stupidity of banning a material that isn't dangerous at all to anything in the amounts used.

we do a lot of moronic things in this country, (and especially in the government and NASA) because of moronic regulations. Did you ever see the 1 3/4" thick regulation from OSHA on how to design a toilet seat, which all government procurement departments had to comply with?

I was on the freon transition team, where we in the early 90's started programs to totally stop using freon in the space program by 1995 (implementation of the Monteral anti-freon convention the US had signed in about 1988 or 89). We used freon to clean all the parts before assembly. We replaced it by using de-mineralized water, with no cleaners/surfactants, or anything, just plain water.