Gouged Tile May Be Left Unrepaired, NASA Says - NYTimes

[applegrove]

Gouged Tile May Be Left Unrepaired, NASA Says
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: August 14, 2007
New York Times

"A small but deep gouge in the underside of the space shuttle Endeavour does not pose the potential of catastrophe, the NASA official overseeing the mission said yesterday.

Space Inspection “I don’t even know if I have to go to fix this at all,” said John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team at a news conference. “This is not a catastrophic loss-of-orbiter case at all.”

Still, engineers are continuing computer simulations and experiments to determine how much heating of the shuttle’s underlying structure the gouge would cause during re-entry through the atmosphere, and a spacewalk to repair the gouge is under consideration.

While the orbiter is not in danger, fixing the gouge in space may prevent further damage that may require lengthy repairs before its next flight, Mr. Shannon said. “This is a case where you want to do the prudent thing for the vehicle,” he said.

......SNIP"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/space/14shuttle.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[soothsayer]

1. Ok, hope they're right. Surely will be using their astronaut diapers

on the way home, I reckon.

[applegrove]

2. Me too.

[Tempest]

3. Something similar caused the Columbia accident

Are they really willing to take that chance?

If there was another explosion, it would be the death knell of the U.S. space program.


Talk about lightning striking twice:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_debate_030302.html

[flyingfysh]

5. not the same as the Columbia accident

There the hole was bigger, and on the leading edge of a wing - the worst possible place. And they didn't know about it before reentry.

[Tempest]

6. I didn't say it was the same, I said it was similar

First, the hole was bigger on the Columbia but it's deeper on the Endeavour.

Second, it wasn't the location near the wing on the Columbia that caused the problem, it was that the gash was located by the wheel compartment door. The cascaded failures which lead to the explosion were caused from the melting of the aluminum wheel assemblies on the Columbia. The underside of Endeavour will see the greatest amount of heat, the longest time of the intense heat and the greatest amount of atmospheric pressure during re-entry, all of which increases the chances of a catastrophe.

Thirdly, as any Google search will show (as well as the cite I provided), they knew during Columbia's takeoff there was a problem and that a hole was created by the wheel compartment door. William C. Anderson, a NASA contractor wondered in a message, "Why are we talking about this on the day before landing, and not the day after launch?"

[Cobalt-60]

8. any hole is too large

But then I was educated in the old school, where we don't gamble with astronauts lives.

[billyoc]

4. "Houston, if I see the Temp spike, iama point the nose right at you"

"and floor it" --Space Dude :eyes:

[freestyle]

7. Seems like the astronauts should make that call.

If I were up there, I would probably want to fix that thing. Better safe than dead. The bigger question is why we continue to use a vehicle with so many design problems.