NASA grounds shuttle fleet

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...tle/index.html

debris during launch draws concern

Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Posted: 6:45 p.m. EDT (22:45 GMT)


KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- There will be no more shuttle launches until NASA engineers determine the effect of debris that fell from the shuttle Discovery during blastoff Tuesday, said Bill Parsons, space shuttle program manager.

"We are treating it very seriously," he told reporters. "Are we losing sleep over it? Not yet."

He added, "We will continue to do the evaluation."

Discovery is due to return to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 7.

The date of the next planned mission had not been set.

Earlier Wednesday NASA lead flight director Paul Hill said that, based on engineers' "first-blush" analysis of falling debris, there was "no significant problem" with the orbiting shuttle.

Hill spoke to reporters after astronauts, using a robotic arm equipped with a camera and laser, spent "one hell of a day" poring over every inch of Discovery, looking for surface damage.

Although the mission had been scheduled to search for damage, concern about the issue was heightened after videotape from an array of cameras trained on Discovery during Tuesday's liftoff showed a piece of debris falling away from the underside of the orbiter.

NASA officials said the debris could have broken off from a tile near a door covering the nose landing gear. Space shuttles have shed tile during previous missions without consequences.

But falling debris from the shuttle Columbia during its ascent was blamed for damage to the craft that led to its destruction and the deaths of all seven crew members upon its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in February 2003.

The subsequent grounding of the shuttle fleet and the investigation into the disaster prompted NASA to make safety-related activities a priority for this first post-Columbia mission.

Appearing at a news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Hill said that NASA engineers' "first blush, when they looked at this, was it wasn't going to be a significant problem." But, he added, engineers have seen "some things" in video from the launch that cause "some concern."

"This has been one hell of a day," Hill said, referring to Discovery's seven-member crew's operation of the 50-foot robotic arm and its 50-foot boom extension. "The crew has had three crew members fully employed, doing nothing but this all day long. And when any of the rest of them had a spare moment, they were also there helping to look out the windows and look at camera views."

NASA was analyzing data from video and from the robotic arm, the launch and elsewhere to decide what steps -- if any -- to take next.

"We should start seeing the jury coming in on those decisions by the end of the crew's day tomorrow," Hill said. "My guess is we're not going to have a problem."

At a Tuesday news conference, NASA flight operations manager John Shannon predicted that the space agency would have enough information by Sunday to decide whether any repairs are needed and, if so, whether such repairs would be possible.

Shannon said the initial estimate of the debris showed it was about 1.5 inches long. He said it might be the tile covering rather than the tile itself.

Footage of Discovery's launch also showed a piece of debris falling from the external fuel tank at the time it separated from the orbiter, Shannon said. However, it did not strike the orbiter, he said.

Footage also showed that the external fuel tank's nose cone hit a bird about 2.5 seconds after liftoff -- when Discovery was probably traveling too slowly to sustain any damage, he said.

Hill said it has not been lost on controllers that this is the first mission after the Columbia disaster.

"We have seven folks living on this space shuttle and counting on us to do the right thing and keep them safe and not to get all giddy and high-fiving each other," he said.

"There's a certain amount of almost shock that we really are here, we really are doing these things that so many folks ... thought that we couldn't do."

As the orbiter approaches the international space station for a scheduled Thursday 7:18 a.m. ET docking, the station's crew will photograph Discovery to look further for any damage.

Shuttle crew members plan to test repair techniques during three scheduled space walks by astronauts Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi of Japan. During their space walks, Robinson and Noguchi also plan to service the space station.

As part of the safety changes instituted after Columbia, NASA developed contingency plans for astronauts to try to repair damaged shuttles so they can return to Earth. In the event a spacecraft cannot be repaired, plans call for the crew to take refuge in the space station until a rescue mission can be launched.

[skcin]

I saw this earlier. Scary. Wasn't it parts falling off the last shuttle what caused it to burn up on re-entry?

[strandinthewind]

A friend of mine is an engineer for NASA and said that the shuttle often sustaons minor damage during any take off. Thus, that could account for debris. The last shuttle sustained significant damage of the heat retardant tiles, which is what doomed it. It reamins to be seen if the same thing has happened here. I pray for their safety though.

[DrummerDeanna]

I just saw that article too

Crazy. I do hope that this shuttle gets back safely.

[Mokona]

I think it's time they start thinking about seriously retiring this program. These orbiters are all pretty old and have gone above and beyond what was initially expected of them. How many more safe launches can they expect to have? It's always been risky, but it seems even more so now.

I'm really worried about the astronauts and am just hoping they'll all come back safe and sound. NASA's employees are some of the smartest people on earth, but I think bureaucracy gets in the way of them making good decisions sometimes.

[skcin]

So, at the risk of starting yet another heated argument, um, why the hell are we still spending gazillions of dollars to keep going up into space? I kind of agree with those remote satellite things to take pics of things really far away to keep exploring, but isn't manned space flight kind of "been there, done that?" Are they going to the moon again? If so, for what? If not, then what are they doing?

I just think that money could be better spent on other things.

[ryan8472]

What fleet? I thought they only had one or two left to begin with?

[Mokona]

No, the initial fleet of shuttles consisted of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis. The last two and Columbia (before the accident) were joined by Endeavour, which rolled off the assembly line in '92. Why they don't use the newest of the shuttles is beyond me.

As for continuing to go up, I will always hope they at least send satellites up there so we can keep exploring and discovering new things about the galaxy, but I'm not sure about manned missions anymore, at least for now. There have been a lot of benefits that came from the space programs, but they need to reconsider if all of this is really worth it right now. One scrubbed launch costs over $600K, which can buy a lot of food and medication for people here on Earth.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by skcin

I saw this earlier. Scary. Wasn't it parts falling off the last shuttle what caused it to burn up on re-entry?

Yes.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Mokona

I think it's time they start thinking about seriously retiring this program. These orbiters are all pretty old and have gone above and beyond what was initially expected of them. How many more safe launches can they expect to have? It's always been risky, but it seems even more so now.

I think this was one of the last missions with the existing shuttles.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by skcin

So, at the risk of starting yet another heated argument, um, why the hell are we still spending gazillions of dollars to keep going up into space?

Because Chimpy wants to go to Mars.
Honestly, I have no idea. I think some of it had to do with keeping the Hubble telescope and space station operational.

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by skcin

So, at the risk of starting yet another heated argument, um, why the hell are we still spending gazillions of dollars to keep going up into space? I kind of agree with those remote satellite things to take pics of things really far away to keep exploring, but isn't manned space flight kind of "been there, done that?" Are they going to the moon again? If so, for what? If not, then what are they doing?

I just think that money could be better spent on other things.

This mission was to get supplies to the International Space Station and to take back with them, things taking up room on the Space Station that are no longer needed. Currently, an American and a Russian are on the Space Station and have been there for several months. I believe they return to Earth later this year.
Timeline of Mission

[Mokona]

They were talking before about keeping the program running until 2010, and then retiring the fleet. They had better think again about that idea.

[skcin]

^ Well what the f*ck are they doing up there?

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by Mokona

They were talking before about keeping the program running until 2010, and then retiring the fleet. They had better think again about that idea.

Considering all of the brain power at NASA, i'm surprised they haven't come up with newer technology to impliment as far as protecting the space shuttle from burning up on re-entry, etc. If they can find a way to keep cameras on the fuel tanks as the shuttle ascents from Earth's atmosphere, then surely they can come up with something for the actual shuttle itself where there won't be nearly as much debris loss.