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N.O. NASA plant hires 125 to prep for shuttle launch

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 06:00 CST

NEW ORLEANS - About 125 new workers have been hired at NASA's facility in eastern New Orleans over the past few months, as the space agency tries to send another space shuttle into orbit in the fall, its first flight since the destruction of the shuttle Columbia.

NASA has said it hopes to launch another shuttle in September or October. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, NASA's contractor at the New Orleans facility, hired the workers mainly to help examine procedures used to apply insulation foam on the shuttle's external tanks and to help redesign troubled parts of the tanks.

The plant's work came under scrutiny after Columbia disintegrated over eastern Texas on Feb. 1 as it returned from a science mission. Federal investigators blamed the accident, which killed all seven astronauts aboard, on a piece of foam that broke from Columbia's external fuel tank shortly after liftoff and punched a hole in the leading edge of the orbiter's wing.

Investigators concluded that NASA engineers and managers had erred by treating chronic foam breakage during shuttle flights as a maintenance problem rather than a safety threat.

The New Orleans plant employs 2,035 and makes the tanks that supply fuel to the shuttle during its ascent to orbit.

Plant managers still don't know whether the facility will return to the production rate of six tanks a year that was in place before the Columbia disaster. Plant officials have warned that layoffs might be necessary if work on production lines remains low for a long time, or if NASA reduces its long-term orders for tanks.

No jobs have been cut at the plant thus far, Lockheed spokesman Marion LaNasa said.

The biggest change to the tank will come in an area known as the bipod ramp, which was the source of the foam piece that fell off during Columbia's last flight, as well as pieces that broke free during at least six previous missions.

Though NASA scientists and engineers have decided to remove the aerodynamic ramp from tanks, they haven't settled on a final plan for redesigning the structure. But that hasn't prevented Michoud employees from moving forward with plans for other modifications.

Many of the new employees are performing tests to make sure the foam adheres to the tank when subjected to the extreme temperatures and pressures encountered during a shuttle liftoff.

"We are recertifying the material ... making sure it's actually what the vendor says it is," said chemical engineer Megan Jennings of Metairie, one of the new employees. "We are doing mechanical and physical testing to see how well the foam adheres to the (outer skin of the fuel tank)."

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