Foam off the tanks, again!
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: Central Massachusetts
Foam off the tanks, again!
By Irene Klotz
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery lost a large piece of insulating foam from its external fuel tank during launch, NASA said on Wednesday, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew 2-1/2 years ago.
The falling debris is not believed to have hit Discovery, NASA spokesman Allard Buetel said.
NASA released images taken by Discovery's crew showing a chunk of insulation was missing, evidence worrisome because a 1.67-pound (0.75-kg) piece of foam insulation fell off Columbia's external tank during its launch on January 16, 2003, and hit the ship's wing.
The damage caused Columbia to break apart as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later, killing the seven astronauts aboard.
NASA spent months changing the way foam insulation was applied to the tank and had expected to see only tiny pieces of debris come off Discovery's tank during launch on Tuesday.
"These views show the large piece of foam that separated from the tank during the shuttle's ascent to orbit," said mission commentator Kelly Humphries.
Astronauts aboard Discovery inspected their ship for damage on Wednesday while imagery experts on the ground studied thousands of pictures and videos taken during its launch.
NASA expects to know by Thursday whether engineers want additional inspections with the shuttle's new laser-scanning boom to assure Discovery is in good shape to return to Earth at the end of its 12-day flight.
TILE DAMAGE
Preliminary images found that part of a tile, a component of the shuttle's heat shield, also broke off from the area around the shuttle's nosewheel landing gear door.
Tile damage to the shuttle is not unusual, but under new safety rules NASA must ensure that any problem does not hold the potential for a Columbia-like disaster.
"Even if we're talking about tile damage that is clearly within the capability (of the shuttle to land), that's going to get all of our attention and all of us are going to get concerned about it," Discovery's lead flight director Paul Hill said. "But we don't make decisions based on that type of emotion. We make decisions based on data."
Astronauts slowly scanned the wings and nose of their spacecraft with the laser-equipped robot arm in a critical safety inspection never before performed on a shuttle mission.
Maneuvering the computer-aided arm from within the orbiter, the astronauts looked for cracks that could endanger the shuttle when it faces extreme heat during its return to the Earth's atmosphere for landing on August 7.
The mission is NASA's first manned flight since Columbia. Discovery is scheduled to reach the International Space Station on Thursday to deliver critical supplies.
Before docking, station commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips plan to photograph the underside of the shuttle while Discovery skipper Eileen Collins slowly flips the ship 600 feet (183 metres) in front of the station.
Since Columbia's flight, NASA has spent more than $1 billion on safety upgrades and worked to change a culture that investigators charged had become too casual about risk.
If NASA engineers determine there is dangerous damage to Discovery, the shuttle could take refuge on the space station
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery lost a large piece of insulating foam from its external fuel tank during launch, NASA said on Wednesday, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew 2-1/2 years ago.
The falling debris is not believed to have hit Discovery, NASA spokesman Allard Buetel said.
NASA released images taken by Discovery's crew showing a chunk of insulation was missing, evidence worrisome because a 1.67-pound (0.75-kg) piece of foam insulation fell off Columbia's external tank during its launch on January 16, 2003, and hit the ship's wing.
The damage caused Columbia to break apart as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later, killing the seven astronauts aboard.
NASA spent months changing the way foam insulation was applied to the tank and had expected to see only tiny pieces of debris come off Discovery's tank during launch on Tuesday.
"These views show the large piece of foam that separated from the tank during the shuttle's ascent to orbit," said mission commentator Kelly Humphries.
Astronauts aboard Discovery inspected their ship for damage on Wednesday while imagery experts on the ground studied thousands of pictures and videos taken during its launch.
NASA expects to know by Thursday whether engineers want additional inspections with the shuttle's new laser-scanning boom to assure Discovery is in good shape to return to Earth at the end of its 12-day flight.
TILE DAMAGE
Preliminary images found that part of a tile, a component of the shuttle's heat shield, also broke off from the area around the shuttle's nosewheel landing gear door.
Tile damage to the shuttle is not unusual, but under new safety rules NASA must ensure that any problem does not hold the potential for a Columbia-like disaster.
"Even if we're talking about tile damage that is clearly within the capability (of the shuttle to land), that's going to get all of our attention and all of us are going to get concerned about it," Discovery's lead flight director Paul Hill said. "But we don't make decisions based on that type of emotion. We make decisions based on data."
Astronauts slowly scanned the wings and nose of their spacecraft with the laser-equipped robot arm in a critical safety inspection never before performed on a shuttle mission.
Maneuvering the computer-aided arm from within the orbiter, the astronauts looked for cracks that could endanger the shuttle when it faces extreme heat during its return to the Earth's atmosphere for landing on August 7.
The mission is NASA's first manned flight since Columbia. Discovery is scheduled to reach the International Space Station on Thursday to deliver critical supplies.
Before docking, station commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips plan to photograph the underside of the shuttle while Discovery skipper Eileen Collins slowly flips the ship 600 feet (183 metres) in front of the station.
Since Columbia's flight, NASA has spent more than $1 billion on safety upgrades and worked to change a culture that investigators charged had become too casual about risk.
If NASA engineers determine there is dangerous damage to Discovery, the shuttle could take refuge on the space station
Godspeed to the explorers! 
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 42,315
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From: Central Massachusetts
The good news is that that orbiter seems undamaged. The bad news is that the shuttle won't fly again until they fix this problem.
Yeah, the foam thing probably never would've been a big deal if it hadn't actually damaged Columbia. It would be inexcusable for NASA to have another accident with the same cause, no matter how unlikely that might be.
I'm not sure about the booster tank foam, but I know for a fact that the thermal tiles on the orbiter have, since day-1, suffered damage during each re-entry (and launch, I think). It's expected. The question is, will that ever be a problem. I don't know.
The shuttle is so damn old and complicated that it's hard to imagine we'll continue to fly it.
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