Categories: Space Shuttle

Flying Foam Grounds Shuttle Fleet

Although Discovery made it safely into orbit, potentially catastrophic chunks of foam dislodged from its fuel tank on Tuesday’s launch. After reviewing launch video and photographs, managers identified a few places where pieces of foam flew off the tank, including one piece as large as 90-cm (35 inches) across. Fortunately it completely missed the shuttle, but if it had hit, the damage would have been severe. NASA has grounded all future shuttle flights until the falling foam problem can be made safer.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

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Fraser Cain

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