Aero-News: Quote of the Day

ANN's Quote of the Day usually derives from current news, though we reserve the right to pick quotes out of history that have a bearing on the day's events and issues.

Sometimes, you'll find them timely and in keeping with the content of the day's news... and sometimes, they'll just be thought-provoking.

Reader suggestions and comments are welcome... and if particularly intriguing, timely, or poignant, may themselves become future Quotes of the Day.

Let us hear from you, folks!

Aero-News Quote of the Day

"That's something that NASA is really working [on] very intensely. There are very few materials that can withstand those kinds of temperatures. It's a tremendous problem."

Source: CAIB member Sheila Widnall, an expert on flight aerodynamics who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an interview with Discovery News, describing the characteristics of a "band-aid" patch that might be used by shuttle pilots to repair hull breaches while still in orbit. A hull breach on the leading edge of Columbia's left wing, caused by falling insulation foam from the shuttle's external fuel tank, is blamed for the death of the space plane on February 1st.

FMI: www.caib.gov, www.nasa.gov