NASA has all but ruled out a launch of the space shuttle Atlantis next month because it cannot guarantee the shuttle鈥檚 safety. 鈥淲e probably will not make the September launch window,鈥� said NASA鈥檚 Bill Gerstenmaier, the programme manager for the International Space Station.
Engineers have yet to pin down why a dangerously large piece of insulating foam fell from Discovery鈥檚 external fuel tank during lift-off on July 26. Gerstenmaier, who is overseeing the two rapidly assembled teams working on the issue, said there is still 鈥渘o obvious root cause鈥� for why the section of foam, nearly 1 metre long, broke free just over 2 minutes into the flight.
NASA is playing down concerns that workers who were sanding away an indentation in the foam near the section that broke away may have caused the problem. Describing it as 鈥渟tandard repair鈥�, Gerstenmaier said the sanding alone was not enough of an explanation, but acknowledged it may have been a factor.
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鈥淲orkers were sanding an indentation in the foam near the section that broke away鈥�
On 11 August, NASA confirmed that the sanding was done some time after the foam was scanned for internal flaws using X-rays and a terahertz imaging system. Those scans are now being reviewed to see if any imperfections that initially passed muster could have been exacerbated by subsequent handling or stress.
