NASA to launch shuttle despite crack in foam

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA decided on Monday
to go ahead with the launch of space shuttle Discovery on a
mission critical to the spacecraft’s future despite finding a
small crack in the foam insulation on the ship’s fuel tank, a
NASA official said.

Discovery is due to lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida
on Tuesday afternoon, after two weather-related delays during
the weekend.

The crack, about 5 inches by about 1/2 inch (12.7 cm by 1
cm), was found during a routine overnight inspection.

The tank’s insulation has bedeviled NASA since fallen foam
caused the shuttle Columbia to break up, killing seven
astronauts in 2003.

Discovery’s flight, which remained targeted for a 2:38 p.m.
EDT launch Tuesday, is intended to prove the tank, which has
been redesigned twice since the accident, no longer sheds
hazardous chunks of foam during launch.

If it fails or if the shuttle sustains some other serious
problem, the shuttle fleet could be grounded permanently,
leaving the future of the half-built International Space
Station in jeopardy.

NASA’s top safety officer and chief engineer had argued for
additional repairs on the tank’s foam before Discovery’s
planned 12-day mission.

Before the weekend launch attempts the shuttle’s tank was
filled with supercold propellants and apparently the
contraction and expansion in the liquid oxygen in the tank
caused ice to form in the foam covering a metal bracket.

After the fuel was removed following the decision to
postpone launch, the ice melted, causing the foam to crack.

Inspectors using cameras and sensors found the crack on
Monday morning, as well as a small foam wedge that apparently
fell from the damaged area and landed on the launch platform.