Pat Flannery wrote:

Question of the week: before the launch, someone asked the Shuttle's
crew what they would do if the Shuttle were damaged during ascent, but
they used their repair ability to fix it on-orbit- would they then trust
it for reentry?
The reply was "no"- they would stay at the ISS and await rescue.
I notice no further discussion on this particular option has occurred
since the the decision to do the repair EVA has been announced.

well, that was in reference to tile damage, not to the cladding in
between coming loose. Way different scale problem.



The other interesting question is: Since some pads between TPS tiles are
hanging half out of their channels...have any fallen _completly_ out,
and how will it affect reentry if they have?

during the press conference this morning they mentioned that the padding
is there to smooth out the airflow during ascent (while the ET is
creating different turbulence patterns and airflows and such), it's not
for thermal protection during descent. So it apparently won't make any
difference on the way downhill.

One devoutly hopes.


--
Terrell Miller


"Suddenly, after nearly 30 years of scorn, Prog is cool again".
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