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July 28, 2005
Shuttle Fleet Grounded Again
from Space.com:
HOUSTON -- NASA officials have grounded the agency's remaining space shuttles after the Discovery orbiter's external tank shed chunks of foam, including one piece more than 2 feet long.
The problem is similar to what occurred in the disastrous Columbia flight in 2003 and was thought to have been fixed.
Space shuttle officials said that while there is currently no indication the foam contacted the Discovery orbiter, the incident should not have happened in the first place and is reason enough to put a hold on future flights.
Images taken of the external tank in orbit identified the foam separation, and also detailed additional areas where the material pulled loose from its tank, they said.
"Until we've fixed this, we're not ready to fly," said Bill Parsons, NASA's space shuttle program manager, during a press briefing here at Johnson Space Center. "You could say that we're grounded."
The Discovery orbiter and its STS-114 crew launched into space Tuesday morning and are approaching the International Space Station (ISS), where they will dock early Monday.
It is NASA's first shuttle to fly since the loss of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, which was fatally struck by falling foam debris during launch. The briefcase-sized foam chunk hit Columbia's left wing back then, gouging a hole in its heat shield that led to the orbiter's destruction -- and the deaths of all seven astronauts aboard -- during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003.
The foam shed during Discovery's Tuesday launch originated on a protuberance air load (PAL) ramp that juts out from the orange external tank and protects vital cables, wiring and pressure lines running along its length. Current estimates place it between 24 and 33 inches long at its longest point and up to 8 inches wide.
Posted by Chris at July 28, 2005 06:42 AM