综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

   

WORLD / America

NASA weighs new shuttle foam problem
(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-04 06:49

The tank expanded when the super-cold fuel was drained after Sunday's launch was canceled because of the weather. The ice that formed "pinched" some of that foam, causing the quarter-inch-wide crack and the piece of foam to drop off, Shannon said.

A gopher tortoise moves down the road to the space shuttle Discovery, seen sitting on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, July 3, 2006. NASA inspectors found a crack in the foam insulation of space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank and managers were meeting on Monday to decide how the crack might affect Tuesday's launch.
A gopher tortoise moves down the road to the space shuttle Discovery, seen sitting on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, July 3, 2006. NASA inspectors found a crack in the foam insulation of space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank and managers were meeting on Monday to decide how the crack might affect Tuesday's launch. [Reuters]
The size of the fallen foam was less than half the size of one that could cause damage, NASA officials said.

"Although it is in an area that we don't like to see foam come off ... it would not have caused damage to the orbiter itself," said John Shannon, deputy manager of the space shuttle program.

Outside experts had mixed opinions on what NASA should do.

Osheroff said he was disturbed to hear about the small chunk of foam that fell off while the spacecraft was at rest. His own experiments at Stanford University show that the foam would weigh double what NASA anticipates if water gets into it, leading to potentially catastrophic results if it hits the shuttle.

On the other hand, another member of the Columbia accident board, John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said NASA doesn't have "all the information, but they have no information that says not to go."

Inspectors spotted the crack in the foam insulation during an overnight check of the shuttle. NASA had scrubbed launch plans Saturday and Sunday because of weather problems.

The forecast for a Tuesday liftoff was better than previous days, with just a 40 percent chance that storm clouds would prevent liftoff.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin decided last week that the shuttle should go into orbit as planned, despite the concerns of two top agency managers, including the top safety officer, who wanted additional repairs to the foam insulation.

The mission for Discovery's crew this time is to test shuttle-inspection techniques, deliver supplies to the international space station and drop off European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter for a six-month stay.


Page: 12
 
 

Related Stories
 
英吉沙县| 石泉县| 墨江| 介休市| 陵川县| 南投县| 酒泉市| 通渭县| 昭平县| 慈溪市| 德令哈市| 略阳县| 泗阳县| 台东县| 怀仁县| 依兰县| 平湖市| 禹州市| 临清市| 寿宁县| 临清市| 揭东县| 上高县| 太仆寺旗| 五莲县| 宝清县| 岗巴县| 沭阳县| 贡觉县| 广昌县| 宜宾县| 瑞金市| 九寨沟县| 兴国县| 隆子县| 焉耆| 兰坪| 肥东县| 天祝| 辰溪县| 宣化县|