NEWS: Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff - ABC News

Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Shu...tory?id=987399

July 28, 2005 — NASA analysts suspect at least one piece of foam did
in fact hit the wing of the space shuttle Discovery as it took off on
Tuesday, ABC News has learned.

Engineers had believed that the foam did not strike Discovery, but new
analysis has led them to suspect at least one small piece of foam did
hit the shuttle's wing, leaving what engineers described as a scuff
mark.

Video taken of Discovery's liftoff on Tuesday showed a piece of foam
broke away from the fuel tank but then fell clear of the craft without
striking it. Foam debris damaged the tiles of the shuttle Columbia on
its ill-fated final journey in 2003.

The NASA news conference indicated that the accelerometer sensors in the
potentially affected wing area did not indicate a significant hit, and the
OBSS inspection so far shows no evidence of a hit. They also said that the
analysts looking at the offending foam trajectory were divided as to whether
it made contact with the wing.
---------------------------

"Rusty" wrote in message
...
Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Shu...tory?id=987399

July 28, 2005 - NASA analysts suspect at least one piece of foam did
in fact hit the wing of the space shuttle Discovery as it took off on
Tuesday, ABC News has learned.

Engineers had believed that the foam did not strike Discovery, but new
analysis has led them to suspect at least one small piece of foam did
hit the shuttle's wing, leaving what engineers described as a scuff
mark.

Video taken of Discovery's liftoff on Tuesday showed a piece of foam
broke away from the fuel tank but then fell clear of the craft without
striking it. Foam debris damaged the tiles of the shuttle Columbia on
its ill-fated final journey in 2003.

I can't believe we're going to have to watch another fatal fireworks
display on reentry! This is ridiculous. They might as well go ahead
and give them the last rites now.

don't be such a grim reaper!

"Larry Haines" wrote in message
oups.com...

I can't believe we're going to have to watch another fatal fireworks
display on reentry! This is ridiculous. They might as well go ahead
and give them the last rites now.

"Larry Haines" wrote in message
oups.com...

I can't believe we're going to have to watch another fatal fireworks
display on reentry!

You don't *have* to watch it. You're free to put on the foil beanie and
stick your head under a pillow.

Rusty wrote:

Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Shu...tory?id=987399

July 28, 2005 — NASA analysts suspect at least one piece of foam did
in fact hit the wing of the space shuttle Discovery as it took off on
Tuesday, ABC News has learned.



Well, that's all she wrote.

Pat

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:31:49 -0500, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):



Rusty wrote:

Engineers Suspect Foam Hit Shuttle Wing During Liftoff

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Shu...tory?id=987399

July 28, 2005 — NASA analysts suspect at least one piece of foam did
in fact hit the wing of the space shuttle Discovery as it took off on
Tuesday, ABC News has learned.



Well, that's all she wrote.

Pat

Pat, please - don't be even more of a fatalist.

--
"Fame may be fleeting but obscurity is forever." ~Anonymous
"I believe as little as possible and know as much as I can."
~Todd Stuart Phillips
www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote:



Well, that's all she wrote.

Pat



Pat, please - don't be even more of a fatalist.



I was in a hurry, and should have phrased that better. What I meant was
that this ups the possibility that the Shuttle will be permanently
grounded; not that it's going to have any problems on reentry.
In fact, that little ding on the tile up by the nose gear would be a
perfect one to test their orbital repair capability out on- it's too
small to present a real problem, so if the repair didn't work- no big
deal. At the same time you could get some great real world data on how
the repair patch technology works on an actual reentry.
Jeffrey Bell has weighed in on the Shuttle. Surprisingly, he wants to
permanently ground it ;-) :
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-05zq.html
I've still got to check up on that B-17 math of his.

Pat

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 14:46:54 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

In fact, that little ding on the tile up by the nose gear would be a
perfect one to test their orbital repair capability out on- it's too
small to present a real problem, so if the repair didn't work- no big
deal.

Unless the repair attempt caused even more damage.

The Ghost of General Lee wrote:

... ding on the tile up by the nose gear would be a
perfect one to test their orbital repair capability out on

Unless the repair attempt caused even more damage.

Or has an unknown failure mode that aggravates the situation,
such as (in this case) resulting in a NLG door not opening.

Had there been a tile damaged beyond safe-reentry
criteria, an unplanned repair would have been indicated.

I suspect that this mission has rather enlarged the
scope of possible on-orbit repairs that must be contemplated
for future missions.

But I agree, if we instead launch Brewster Buffaloes on
these missions, these issues simply don't arise.

--
Regards, Bob Niland
http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com
NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.