NASA Plans to Alter Shuttle Tank
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WASHINGTON — NASA plans to change the space shuttle’s external fuel tank again, this time removing a troublesome section of protective foam that broke off during the launch of Discovery in July, agency officials said Thursday.
The removal of more foam from the tank and further testing to find the cause of cracks in the foam could lead to a longer delay until the next shuttle flight, tentatively set for May.
But NASA official Bill Gerstenmaier, who is leading the investigation into the foam loss, said that wasn’t necessarily so.
“We think that’s the best thing to do -- just take [the foam section] off,” Gerstenmaier said.
NASA had redesigned the fuel tank after a large piece of insulating foam hit the wing of the shuttle Columbia in 2003, sparking the disaster that killed seven astronauts.
The shuttle fleet was grounded after that and again after Discovery’s mission in July when a smaller piece of foam broke off the shuttle’s tank despite the redesign.
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