NASA: no fix needed for shuttle
Come back as you are
Posted in Space, 17th August 2007 09:16 GMT
See what The Register's experts have to say on application security
Brief After a week of hmm-ing and haa-ing, NASA has elected not to repair the hole in the Shuttle Endeavour before it returns to Earth.
Mission chief John Shannon said the decision had not been unanimous, but had been "pretty overwhelming", according to the Houston Chronicle.
Mission controllers were worried that the three and a half inch gash in the thermal tiles on the underside of the craft could expose the shuttle to serious damage during the firestorm of re-entry. Extensive testing since the hole was spotted has shown that the structure will hold up, NASA says.
In 2003, a weakness in the thermal protection on Columbia led to the shuttle breaking up in the atmosphere, with the loss of all seven astronauts on board.
NASA says it was never worried that the damage to Endeavour was likely to lead to a similar catastrophe.
Instead, the problem was the the aluminium frame might be damaged by the heat, and would need extensive and expensive repairs once it arrived back on Earth.
Mission controllers told the crew, commanded by Scott Kelly, that there would be no need for an additional spacewalk, adding: "It's great we finally have a decision and we can press forward." ®


The future of SaaS and IT infrastructure management
The Total Economic Impact of Dell's PC products and services
The best practices guide for application security
Reducing messaging and web security costs with managed services

Win a Samsung C6625!
Is your cameraphone an oxymoron?
Reg Mobile and Wireless newsletter is go! go! go!
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter