Despite my earlier post looking forward to tomorrow's launch of Discovery, there may be another delay, for a more serious reason.

NASA officials delayed until this evening a decision on whether to go forward with the Fourth of July launch of the space shuttle Discovery after a 5-inch crack was found in the insulating foam on the external fuel tank.

NASA managers said they needed more time to evaluate the crack -- about 5 inches by 1/2 inch -- and will meet again at 6:30 p.m. EDT to decide whether to push ahead with the launch or delay it once again.

John Shannon, deputy manager of the space shuttle program, told reporters gathered at Cape Canaveral, Fla., that there were three considerations scientists needed to investigate further. They were: whether the underlying structure is at risk of over-heating, whether ice will form because of the crack in the foam, and whether other foam is in danger of coming off.

Shannon said ice build-up on the tank caused the crack.

"What we think happened yesterday, when we had all of that rain, we had condensation," Shannon said. "It's very cold. It froze.

Not only did the foam crack, but a piece actually fell off the flexible joint and tumbled to the base of the launch pad. While the piece is not large and is less than half the size that NASA considers dangerous if lost during launch, I have to wonder if this raises questions of she integrity of the foam on the entire assembly.

Depending on the decision, we may se a launch tomorrow -- or we could be in for a long delay.

Posted by: Greg at 06:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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