Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 13, 2005 2:26:30 GMT -6
Shuttle Damaged Ahead Of Planned Liftoff
From Spacedaily.com:
Cape Canaveral FL (AFP) Jul 12, 2005
A plastic and foam cover fell off a window of Discovery Tuesday, causing some damage to the space shuttle on the eve of its planned launch, NASA said, indicating it hoped to fix the problem swiftly.
The protective cover, which is taken off before the launch, fell about 20 meters (60 feet) onto one of the shuttle's two orbital maneuvering systems, which are used once the craft is in orbit.
Some of the tiles on the edge of the system were damaged in the incident, said Stephanie Stilson, NASA's manager for Discovery preparations.
"I have been assured it can be fixed quickly and then we can move on," she said. "There is plenty of time to work out an issue like this," she said.
Spokesman Kyle Herring said the panel that contains the tiles would be replaced. Discovery was scheduled to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:51 p.m. (1951 GMT) Wednesday, marking the first space shuttle flight since the February 2003 Columbia tragedy.
With storms forecast in the area Wednesday, NASA managers appeared more concerned with the weather than the damaged tiles.
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I don't like this...I don't like this at all...
