Edge of disaster: Shuttle accident averted by luck; program grounded

[Fire Walk With Me]

Edge of disaster

Shuttle accident averted by luck; program grounded

By Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - NASA grounded future shuttle flights Wednesday because a big chunk of insulating foam flew off Discovery's fuel tank during liftoff - as it did in Columbia's doomed mission - but this time apparently missed the spacecraft.

"Until we're ready, we won't go fly again. I don't know when that might be," shuttle program manager Bill Parsons told reporters in a briefing Wednesday evening.

He and other managers do not believe the flying debris that snapped off the external fuel tank harmed Discovery, threatening a safe return of its seven astronauts.

"Call it luck or whatever, it didn't harm the orbiter," Parsons said. If the foam had broken away earlier in flight - when the atmosphere is thicker, increasing the acceleration and likelihood of impact - it could have caused catastrophic damage to Discovery.



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Here's hoping BushCo will start a war on terrorible maintainance and supplies for our patriotic pioneers. Isn't the budget for NASA only 16 billion? Come home safely folks, come home safely.

[Moochy]

1. How old is the foam on the main tanks?

I mean arent there sufficient advances in material science so as to preculde foams designed in the mid-1970's ?

And if the foam has been reformulated recently, why can't they just wrap it in saran wrap ? :shrug: (this is why im not a real-world engineer, but just limited to software engineering! :-p )

Enquiring Moochys want to know, what gives NASA?

[tridim]

2. Why not turn the shuttle over on it's back

so the tiles are on the outside? Or develop new tiles that aren't so fragile that they break when hit by a piece of foam. Sometimes I think NASA is too deep in bureaucracy that they can't make practical decisions.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Perhaps it's a prelude to "Privatizing".

Then they'd control offworld resources and the movement of said resources.

Just like they're doing with oil, energy, water, etc.

[tridim]

4. Good point

Although I'd actually be happy if they privatized with someone like Burt Ruttan. NASA keeps too many secrets. I want an open-source space agency.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I think that space flight WILL be privatized in the very near future

[Rufus T. Firefly]

9. The first 2 shuttle flights had painted tanks.

They were white, but they stopped doing that to save weight and money. I believe that heavy paint (whatever they would use) would work. Or putting a shell outside the foam.

[don954]

13. what I don’t understand, why don’t they just shrink-wrap the tank in Mylar

Didn’t they do that in the old days of space flight?

[Eloriel]

6. Did you forget the link? n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. Yep.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20954%257E2984795,00.html

The site only stays fresh for 13 or so days, then archive the articles.

[LittleClarkie]

7. I wonder why my local pundit was crying about this

Why is safety uppermost, he wanted to know. If we'd worried about safety above all, we'd have never gotten into space in the first place, he said.

Sometimes I think the wingers are pushing space travel because their boss is from a state where the space program is partially based.

Houston, we have a problem. And we ain't going no place til it's fixed.

I was thinking today that Mark Belling should be sent up in a shuttle. Then we'd see if he thought the safety precautions were necessary.

Did any of you catch this guy on Rush earlier in the week? Ain't he sumpthin?

[OneBlueSky]

8. how stupid was it to announce this while they're out there in space? . . .

I mean, you're an astronaut who has just launched in a vehicle that exploded on reentry last time around . . . as soon at you're up, you find that 1) something fell off during the launch, and 2) the agency responsible for your safe return announces that the vehicle you're currently residing in has been grounded due to safety concerns! . . .

THAT's gonna help them concentrate on the job at hand! . . . :sarcasm:

[OneBlueSky]

10. how stupid was it to announce this while they're out there in space? . . .

I mean . . .

you're an astronaut who has just launched in a vehicle that exploded on reentry last time around . . . as soon at you're up, you find that:

1) something fell off during the launch, and

2) the agency responsible for your safe return has announced that the vehicle you're currently residing in has been grounded due to safety concerns! . . .

THAT's gonna help them concentrate on the job at hand! . . . :sarcasm:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

11. I know what I'd do if I were up there.

I'd say "That's okay, I'll wait for the Russians for the return trip. Good luck."