NASA: Discovery crew may have to repair shuttle
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:27 pm
NASA is trying to determine if two bits of material sticking up from the shuttle Discovery's thermal tiles present an unacceptable risk of overheating when the shuttle returns to Earth, the flight director said just a couple hours ago. NASA has had a rough time lately and this is only going to make matters worse. I hope that the Discovery crew comes home safe and sound. For NASA's sake they better pray they don't lose this shuttle because if it is lost I believe the current Space Shuttle and programs are going to be canceled.
I would hate to be stuck in outer space and waiting on the NASA research teams to look at pictures and see if I was going to make it home. Talking about not being able to sleep because of stress!
Source: Reuters NewsNASA managers already have deemed 90 percent of Discovery's heat shield able to withstand the tremendous forces and high heat of atmospheric re-entry on Aug. 8.
But NASA has discovered two protruding gap fillers, which is material used to fill any minute gaps between heat shield tiles. A decision about whether the crew will be asked to fix them is expected on Monday, Hill said.
I would hate to be stuck in outer space and waiting on the NASA research teams to look at pictures and see if I was going to make it home. Talking about not being able to sleep because of stress!