Thu, Oct 11, 2007
Safety Team Recommends Replacement; Launch Could Be
Delayed
NASA will examine a handful of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC)
heating tiles on the wings of the space shuttle Discovery, now at
the launch pad in anticipation of an October 23 launch, to
determine if the tiles should be replaced.
The Associated Press reports three of the 44 reinforced tiles
that line the edges of Discovery's wings show signs of degradation
in their outer coating.
The issue has come up before, the space agency says;
thermography inspections of the affected tiles have shown no
internal defects in the tiles, which gives NASA scientists little
clue as to what may be causing the degradation.
Discovery has flown at least twice with the tiles in their
present state, according to NASA, with no apparent problems. Still,
on Wednesday the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC)
recommended replacement of three of the tiles.
Replacement of the tiles would require a trip back to the
Vehicle Assembly Building for Discovery... potentially adding weeks
to the timetable for launch.
NASA managers wrapped up two days of meetings Wednesday, ahead
of next week's Flight Readiness Review. That meeting is planned for
October 16, and its unlikely a decision on whether to replace the
tiles will be made prior to then.
The issue of whether to replace the tiles is a thorny one for
NASA, in light of the 2003 loss of
Columbia. A breach of several RCC tiles on the
leading edge of that orbiter's left wing -- caused by a chunk of
insulating foam that struck the tiles during launch -- led to the
shuttle's destruction during reentry.
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