NASA Decides No Shuttle Repairs Needed

HOUSTON (AP) - A gouge on space shuttle Endeavour’s belly does not need to be repaired in orbit, NASA has decided after several days of testing, analysis and deliberation.

The decision came Thursday night after a five-hour meeting of mission managers. They opted against any risky spacewalk repairs based on the overwhelming - but not unanimous - recommendations of hundreds of engineers. The massive amount of data they gathered indicated Endeavour would suffer no serious structural damage during next week’s re-entry.

For several days, NASA had said crew safety was not at risk. The concern was that the heat of re-entry could weaken the shuttle’s aluminum frame at the damaged spot and result in lengthy post-flight repairs, but testing showed that would not be the case.

The gouge is too small to be catastrophic, unlike the damage Columbia suffered.

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NASA Decides No Shuttle Repairs Needed

I know the guys at NASA are smart, they’re rocket scientists for crying out loud, and I know that they have a lot more knowledge than most of us have but I have to point this out, NASA wasn’t aware of any gash or gouge in Columbia were they?? I may be wrong but I don’t remember there being any question of heat shield damage to that shuttle before it went to pieces over Texas…

NASA needs to get this one right, 2 shuttles gone, their reputation in shambles, cost over-runs that are astronomical, I guess that’s only fitting though…

Personally, I’d think NASA could find a way to keep the insulation on those tanks from falling off and banging into the shuttle every time it goes up, not being a scientist I have no idea what the solution might be, but what they’re using, a hard foam insulation of sorts, seems to be less than desirable, I mean, it keeps falling off and causing damage, that’s what I call less than desirable…

I have always admired the courage exhibited by the astronauts, like most of my generation I grew up watching the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, my family sat together and watched as Armstrong set foot on the moon, I remember the look of horror on my mothers face as the story of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee was being broadcast when they were killed on the launch pad in the capsule fire, my generation grew up watching this stuff, and I love it, and I wish NASA all the best, but as the guys say in ‘The Right Stuff’, “No bucks, no Buck Rogers”, well, if you keep killing Buck Rogers, the bucks are going to go away too…

These guys at NASA need to be the very best, we’re funding them to be the best, and after all, they really are rocket scientists…

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