SCI/TECH: NASA Grounds Shuttle Fleet

NASA has announced that they have grounded the shuttle fleet as a result of foam insulation falling from the external tank when Discovery launched yesterday. They have confirmed that Discovery has not been damaged but see the risk to shuttles too much to let them continue launching. Falling foam insulation caused the break up of Columbia 2 1/2 years ago.



At last NASA realise that this is a serious problem.

Im devastated that the shuttle fleet may be out for years but at least they are playing it safe this time.

Excellent news that Discovery wasnt damaged, lets just get her home and sort this problem out once and for all!



[edit on 27/7/2005 by MickeyDee]

[edit on 28-7-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 28-7-2005 by John bull 1]

I wonder if this will be the last shuttle flight...is there anything they can do about this that they haven't already done?

I was wondering why don't the wrap the whole tank in some kind of netting or something to keep the insulation from falling off.

I think this will spell the end of the shuttle!

DJ, i think anything that was on the ET would burn up during launch!


Mic

NASA will be unable to stop this problem ever!

They need a new ET before the shuttles could fly again and they wont get one!

Use the Russian capsules until 2010 and then they get the CEV.

Call my Mr.Suspicious but Mr.Parsons words dont fill me with confidence. He says that the falling debris didnt cause any damage "that we're aware of" but then goes on to say that "It didnt impact the orbiter at all".

Well if it didnt impact the orbiter then why the ominous "that we're aware of" remark?

My fingers are crossed that the shuttle returns to Earth safely.

"The fact is it didn't cause any damage to the orbiter that we're aware of at this time. It didn't impact the orbiter at all," Parsons said.

Does anyone have any info as to what the next generation of US spacecraft would be? Are there any genuine plans of a craft in the works?
I looked through the aircraft and aerospace files, but didn't see anything. Maybe I am not looking in the right place?

I saw this after doing a google search, but it is dated Dec. 1,2004 and is for the next generation Russian vehicle, which looks very much like the US space shuttle.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Surely there is something in the works. I believe that this does it for the Space Shuttle fleet. There might be one more flight left in them, but we will probably be depending on the Russian Soyuz from here on out, until we unveil the next craft.

They have the CEV planned to replace the shuttle:

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 7/27/2005 by djohnsto77]

Thanks! Great read BTW.
I especially like Bush's quote:
"But the main purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts beyond our orbit to other worlds."

Past Mars? Sounds like a huge obstacle, but you have to dream big.

Here's a more indepth article on this:
Foam loss grounds shuttle fleet again





seekerof

SO much for the Atlantis STS 121 mission...
This is ratherdisheartening.
Hopefully it will lead to a speedy return to space

Does anyone know whether or not the foam covering on the external tank is critical to operations? I.e., Can the foam be stripped off and the tanks used safely without it? Put the dang stuff on the inside of the tank.

[edit on 27-7-2005 by Astronomer68]

hmmm...this isn't the kinda news I was hoping for.

At least the orbiter didn't get hit...which means there a very high chance that they will make it back alive.

It kinda pisses me off when nasa has years and billions to get it going good and only to relize that after all there foam research and work that a 2 foot slab can come flying off.

maybe they should of just spent the 2 1/2 years not worring about the foam and consentrating on putting the orbiter at the top of the stack config, that way the foam chunks are a thing of the past.

but whats done is done. This is the first time there has ever being the external tank camera, so who knows, these large chunk could have being flying off on every mission and have only hit the orbiter once (columbia).

I dont think they should ground the shuttles because no damage happened...I think Nasa is getting so affraid of messing up that there getting to strict.

and if/when Atlantis lifts off and a chunk does hit the orbiter at least we will have so many cameras on it (over 100) that we will know all the details and fix it while in space, Nasa has said that the orbiter has the ability to stay docked with the ISS for 2 months, so incase a problem arises that they dont have the materials for then the next shuttle to be launched can bring it up with them and give it to the other shuttle crew so they can fix it.