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Atlantis launch delayed to fix fuel tank |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Monday, 20 August 2007
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 NASA will delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis because of continuous problems with the fuel tank. It happened to Endeavour; it happened to Columbia, and it has continued to happen all along: foam insulation comes off the shuttle's fuel tank and endangers the astronauts. NASA has just announced engineers have to try to fix it. Again.
NASA knew even before Endeavour's launch that the shuttle's big orange fuel tank had another weak spot.
Video from that launch shows foam insulation coming off in the same place it's been lost before.
This time, that softball-sized piece of foam or ice hit the underside of the shuttle, and caused agonizing deliberations over whether the astronauts could land safely. The manager of the shuttle program said late on Monday that engineers will redesign that part of the tank, and that the planned late October launch of Discovery will have to be delayed.
The 3-inch hole in Endeavour's tiles is not considered a threat, even though it goes all the way through in one small spot. But next time, it could be worse, so engineers are going back to their drawing boards, and wind tunnels, hoping to fix the spot where the foam keeps coming off.
The shuttle program manager said flying the shuttle is always risky, and they launched Endeavour believing the risk was small but now they know better.
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