Word: foams
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...minimum, the PAL ridge will have to be redesigned. Currently, foam in that area is applied by hand instead of machine, which had seemed like the better method but clearly may not be. Engineers might also replace the ridge with a metal guard. "There is a very good chance the impact on the next flight could be minimal," says Phil Engelauf of the mission operations team. Still, the September flight of Atlantis will almost surely be delayed. How badly the schedule will back up after that is unknown...
ANATOMY OF A FLAW NASA spent more than two years and $1 billion to make sure that the accident that doomed Columbia in 2003 couldn't happen again. Despite assurances that it was safe to launch Discovery, several pieces of foam broke free during takeoff last week, forcing an embarrassed NASA to put all future flights on hold...
WHAT WENT WRONG . . . The largest piece of foam missed Discovery entirely. Another piece may have struck the wing but did no obvious damage. Protective tiles on the orbiter's underside, including one near its vulnerable nosewheel well, seem to have been gouged during launch, perhaps by more falling foam...
...UNDER THE SHUTTLE The orbiter didn't escape unharmed. There are at least 25 dings on its underside, including one near the nose, where temperatures can climb dangerously high ?FOAM DEBRIS The biggest chunk was 2 to 3 ft. wide (0.6 to 0.9 m), about 1 ft. long (0.3 m) and up to 8 in. (20 cm) thick; it probably weighed 0.9 lbs. (0.4 kg), about half the size of the piece that downed Columbia ?THE TROUBLESOME RAMP Most of the falling bits came from the so-called PAL ramp, a ridge of hand-sprayed foam designed...
...FOAM -- 1 in. (2.5 cm) ?Fuel ?Aluminum casing ?Epoxy...