Monday, July 03, 2006

Posted by Sickboy at 2:43 PM
I have been following this kinda closely....

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- Engineers on Monday are closely scrutinizing a small crack in insulation on the space shuttle's fuel tank as NASA continues to prepare for a Tuesday launch.

NASA deputy manager John Shannon said the foam that cracked covers a bracket that connects the liquid oxygen feedline to shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank.

When engineers went to inspect it, they pinched off a .00057-pound, 3- inch piece of foam.

Even so, Shannon said, had that piece fallen off during launch it wouldn't have damaged the orbiter.

The crack was discovered during an inspection Sunday evening, and is 4- to 5-inches- long and an eighth- to a quarter-inch wide, NASA said.

Hey Mike M. I read in a previous blog that you are fascinated by space travel and NASA, so have you been following this at all???

11 comments:

Sickboy said...

cool! Im glad someone else is!

7:37 PM CDT
Sickboy said...

An official update....

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- NASA will go ahead with Tuesday's scheduled launch of the space shuttle Discovery after examining a pencil-sized crack in the foam insulation around the shuttle's fuel tank, the space agency announced.

"It all looks fine, and the structure is in good shape," Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier told reporters

9:11 PM CDT
Michael said...

If you watch CNN, Miles O'Brien is a space nut and does a pretty good running commentary. Looks like the shuttle program is going to reach the end of its lifespan sooner than later. I'm not sure if they have the replacement in mind yet. Anyone know?

8:32 AM CDT
dad-e~O said...

Popular Magazine does articles every now and again about NASA. i think the current front runner in the "replace the shuttle race" is a fancy jet. I only ever skim the articles cause I'm not a huge fan of the space program (not the popular view here, but so be it)

Michael, it's always so livley around here (the blog) when you visit.

10:04 AM CDT
dad-e~O said...

popular MECHANICS magazine, duh

10:09 AM CDT
Michael said...

Thanks Pete. I like to think of myself as lively. Or at least alive.
Always a pleasure visiting.

10:30 AM CDT
Sickboy said...

Michael, I enjoy having you here...for what its worth....

shuttle will launch in 2 mins. from now, Im watching it on CNN...

1:39 PM CDT
Martin said...

the space shuttle program is nearing the end of it's life cycle. Some would say it is overdue to be terminated. Lockheed and Northrop are both developing "Crew Exploration Vehicles" The winning design is supposed to be chosen in 2008 with a projected manned launch in 2014 or so. That is always subject to change, though. I think, though that over the next few decades we are going to see a some very civilian activity in space travel. Spaceship 1 was the first major step towards showing that privately funded and designed spacecraft are feasable. Now someone just needs to make them profitable.

2:24 PM CDT
Martin said...

sorry, meant to say very exciting civilian activity.

2:25 PM CDT
Martin said...

you can't impugn the space program as it given birth to such modern marvels as Tang, velcro, and pens that write upside down. Although the Soviets just used pencils instead of super, gravity-oblivious pens.

2:35 PM CDT
Martin said...

Sorry for all the posts but I've got a lot to say about this stuff. As far as the damage on the shuttle, I always feel a little apprehensive when I hear about any type of problems regarding the rocket boosters. This obviously stems from the infamous "O" ring that failed on the STS Challenger launch that ended in disaster.

2:56 PM CDT

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