The Washington Post is reporting that NASA administrators have given the green light to a launch attempt for tomorrow. The crack in the foam insulation that has been reported all day appears to have been a bit more than that. A small triangular piece of foam actually fell off the area of the crack.
The 3-inch triangular piece of foam that appeared to come from a 5-inch-long crack late Sunday or early Monday is far smaller than the foam chunk that brought down Columbia, killing seven astronauts in 2003. But NASA managers spent most of Monday pondering whether to go ahead with the launch.
Some outside experts said they were uncomfortable with going ahead, although they didn't have all the information.
Paul Fischbeck, a Carnegie Mellon University risk and engineering professor who has consulted with NASA on the shuttle's delicate heat protection system, noted that NASA said they had never seen foam fall off on the launch pad before.
"The question is why did it happen this time and never before? If it's something you've never seen before, that makes it much more curious," he said. "It's something you might want to understand before you launch."
The patch of foam fell off an area that covers an expandable bracket holding a liquid oxygen fuel line against the huge external tank. NASA engineers believe ice built up in that area from condensation caused by rain Sunday.
The tank expanded when the super-cold fuel was drained after Sunday's launch was canceled because of the weather. The ice that formed "pinched" some of that foam, causing the quarter-inch-wide crack and the piece of foam to drop off, officials said.
It is impossible to judge the situation with the information the media has put out in this article. I can't second guess the experts with considerably more knowledge. But I confess I am a bit disturbed by this new information. At the same time, any time you strap yourself to the top of a really big rocket containing enormous amounts of highly explosive fuel, you are taking a big risk. So I think I have to assume the people who have to bear the responsibility are acting in good faith.
However, I want them to go back to the CFC foam after this mission.
Dean Esmay believes that NASA should scrub the Shuttle program and have a “fundamental re-examination of NASA’s entire mission”. He might have a good point. Aside from that, you are right that the people making the decisions at NASA have all the info, and you’d think with their past glaring errors they wouldn’t want to be party to any further travesty. Here’s hoping they are right.
The shuttle is old now and needs to be replaced. At the same time, we need to keep moving forward. It’s complicated, isn’t it?
Does the life of a US Astronaut worth this so called “keep moving forward”?
That’s the only question.
Are you ready to sacrifice another 5-7 guys to “keep moving forward”?
Complicated indeed. We’ve committed ourselves to this space station and if we pull out before it’s done we’ll have egg on our face and tick off the other nations involved in it.
As an aside, do you suppose NASA folks refer to their salad days at the “Tang days”?
Roland, What exactly should we do? Wait for 100% absolute flawless safety?
We need updated technology, we should be developing that.
You are right, it’s complicated.
Just can’t see any progress since 2003.
That’s all.