NASA halts shuttle flights

HOUSTON – NASA grounded its space shuttle fleet on Wednesday after learning that large chunks of insulating foam broke off Discovery’s external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew two and half years ago.

The seven Discovery astronauts were not in danger and the falling debris does not appear to have hit or damaged their ship, which took off on Tuesday on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, deputy shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale said. But NASA said it would launch no more shuttles until it resolves the recurring problem of debris falling off during blastoff.”Until we fix this, we’re not ready to go fly again,” shuttle programme manager Bill Parsons said.”I don’t know how long that is right now.We have a lot of work in front of us to figure that out and we’re going to go do that.”Images of the shuttle’s tank, which was jettisoned as planned just before Discovery slipped into orbit, show at least three areas where large chunks of insulation foam came off, Hale and Parsons said.The finding was troubling because a 0,75 kg piece of foam insulation broke off Columbia’s external tank during its launch on January 16, 2003, and gouged a hole in the ship’s wing.As Columbia attempted to fly through the Earth’s atmosphere for landing 16 days later, superheated gases blasted into the breach and tore the ship apart, killing the seven astronauts on board.NASA has since spent more than US$1 billion improving the tank and adding other safety upgrades.Discovery’s flight was the space agency’s first manned mission since the Columbia accident and was to be the first of two to test the new gear.- Nampa-ReutersBut NASA said it would launch no more shuttles until it resolves the recurring problem of debris falling off during blastoff.”Until we fix this, we’re not ready to go fly again,” shuttle programme manager Bill Parsons said.”I don’t know how long that is right now.We have a lot of work in front of us to figure that out and we’re going to go do that.”Images of the shuttle’s tank, which was jettisoned as planned just before Discovery slipped into orbit, show at least three areas where large chunks of insulation foam came off, Hale and Parsons said.The finding was troubling because a 0,75 kg piece of foam insulation broke off Columbia’s external tank during its launch on January 16, 2003, and gouged a hole in the ship’s wing.As Columbia attempted to fly through the Earth’s atmosphere for landing 16 days later, superheated gases blasted into the breach and tore the ship apart, killing the seven astronauts on board.NASA has since spent more than US$1 billion improving the tank and adding other safety upgrades.Discovery’s flight was the space agency’s first manned mission since the Columbia accident and was to be the first of two to test the new gear.- Nampa-Reuters