Re: Watch the Shuttle Launch


"Colonel Forbin" <forbin@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:lcgGe.38390$yC5.8891@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| In article <1122539792.769299.225400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
| Thin Man <greenmts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
| >
| >I hope that everything goes well on the return flight. I'm sure if
| >you're interested, that you've heard of the loss of insulation
| >material.
| >I don't want to see or hear of a nightmare upon return to our
| >atmosphere.
| >
| >Bless the astronauts.
|
| So far there doesn't seem to be any serious problem with the orbiter.
| There were a few spots of minor damage noted on inspection prior to
| docking with the space station, but nothing has been reported so
| far that would be likely to cause a serious problem.
|
| A number of postflight inspections have revealed minor damage on past
| Shuttle flights. In some cases sections of tile detached, in others
| they were damaged by collision with debris such as foam shedding from
| the external tank.
|
| The Columbia disaster resulted from a sizeable hole punched in the
| wing by a large chunk of insulation which struck a critical spot
| head on.
|
| The fuel tank insulation problem hasn't been fully solved but many
| people in NASA said as much when they started talking publicly about
| resuming flights. Indeed, it's not clear this and some other identified
| flaws can ever be fully solved with the constraints of the shuttle's
| basic design.
|
| The wing structure has been reinforced at key locations, and the tank
| foam distribution and application methods were modified to try to
| limit foam shedding to a level which wouldn't damage the orbiter.
|
| Clearly the foam measures did not succeed, because the large piece
| of shed foam shown in photos of the launch and of the tank after
| separation would have been sufficient to cause similar damage to
| the Columbia event had it struck in a similar location.
|
| Fortunately, no such severe damage appears to have resulted during
| this flight.

VERY fortunately. But at least they now know to pay close attention to such
things. AND, this time, they have another shuttle ready to go if they
should need to perform a rescue mission. This is smart thinking.....


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: GO FEVER IS WELL ENTRENTCHED:(
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