Houston, We Might Have a Problem

[onedomino]

This does not look good. It is hard to imagine that they would fly the Shuttle back through the atmosphere with such a gash in the heat shielding. Let’s hope they have the stuff onboard necessary for repair. It was a problem with the heat sheilding that caused the Columbia disaster.

Shuttle heads toward station, NASA studies problem
Sat Jun 9, 2007 9:05PM EDT
By Irene Klotz

Complete article: http://news.originalsignal.com/article/353155/shuttle-heads-toward-station-nasa-studies-problem.html

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis closed in on the International Space Station on Saturday as NASA experts studied whether a damaged thermal blanket at the rear of the orbiter needed repair.

Stitches holding the blanket that forms part of the shuttle's heat protection may have ripped during Friday's launch, causing a few inches of the thick material to peel away from Atlantis, NASA said.

"It's not a great deal of concern over it right now, but there's a lot of work to be done" to study the tear, said deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon.

If experts determine the damage poses a threat to the safety of the shuttle, which encounters high temperatures when it returns to earth, Shannon said a spacewalking astronaut could repair it.

 

[Mr. P]

If experts determine the damage poses a threat to the safety of the shuttle, which encounters high temperatures when it returns to earth, Shannon said a spacewalking astronaut could repair it.

IF? I can't believe they'd even take the chance!