Monday, July 03, 2006
SHUTTLE CRACK
CNN's reporting that there's a crack in the foam insulation on the external tank. I'd be willing to bet this means a complete scrub of the flight and rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Although it shouldn't be so, this may well have been caused by the additional fuel loading cycle the tank went through after the first scrub.
AAAAAHHHHHHH! This development is so perfectly indicative of the basic problems with the shuttle's design. First, a flaw like this would be inconsequential if the important part of the system was on top of the fuel tank, where it ought to be, instead of slung alongside. But, if the orbiter wasn't mounted on the side of the tank, there wouldn't be a need to have the kind of complex shape that the foam in this area is covering, anyway. The fuel lines would all be internal and wouldn't have to pierce the side of the tank.
Here's the terrible idea gnawing at the back of my mind: The shuttle may never fly again. But before the day comes when that decision is made, how many more hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent keeping it on life support?
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 10:17 AM
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