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Space Shuttle Hinges on Repair Kit

Posted on: Monday, 14 February 2005, 06:00 CST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With just three months remaining until liftoff, the astronauts assigned to the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia catastrophe still don't know what type of repair kit will accompany them into orbit.

It's late in the game and shuttle managers need to decide soon, the mission's commander, Eileen Collins, said Thursday.

The problem is, none of the five options for patching gashes in the hull of an orbiting shuttle is all that good. Nonetheless, Collins said she and her crew will have at least one type of repair method on board when Discovery takes off on the first shuttle flight in more than two years, as early as mid-May.

"We only can do so much. We can't test everything. We have to decide what we are going to test," Collins, NASA's first female shuttle pilot, told reporters during a break in training at Kennedy Space Center.

None of the five options under consideration could repair a hole the size of the one that destroyed Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003. The hole in Columbia's left wing was an estimated 6 to 10 inches across, and was caused by a piece of foam insulation that broke off the external fuel tank at liftoff.

Because the seven shuttle astronauts have been training for so long, they have some flexibility for taking on last-minute tasks, said Collins, 48, a retired Air Force colonel.

Developing a method for patching cracks and holes in the shuttle's hull has proven to be one of the most difficult challenges confronting NASA since Columbia shattered during re-entry over Texas, killing all seven aboard. The goal for the first flight is to have something to demonstrate for future use, and to use in case Discovery is damaged.

Source: Cincinnati Post

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