Space Forum / Shuttle / August 2004

Still No Fix for U.S. Space Shuttle

Aug. 26, 2004 — By Broward Liston
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - One year after a highly critical
report urged NASA to develop the means to fix a broken space shuttle
in orbit, the U.S. space agency still could not repair a hole the size
of the one that doomed the seven Columbia astronauts, NASA said on
Thursday.

A piece of foam that broke off Columbia's external fuel tank 81
seconds after liftoff left a gash in the left wing and caused the
100-tonship to break up as it re-entered the atmosphere in February
2003.

Since then, NASA has experimented with various patches but has found
none that could resist the 3,000 degree F temperature of re-entry,
said Bill Parsons, the shuttle program manager, who spoke to reporters
on the anniversary of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's
report.

"We've made a lot of progress, but we've not been able to come up with
an over-wrap in this time frame that would allow us to fix a large
hole," said Parsons. "Our expectation is that we'll fix the tank and
there won't be anything like that we'll have to deal with."

This month, officials at the New Orleans plant where Lockheed Martin
Corp assembles the $40 million fuel tanks said they were certain the
same accident would not occur again because they would, on future
missions, remove the 1.5-pound piece of foam that broke away during
Columbia's ascent.

But these officials made clear that they had not yet met the exacting
standards set by the accident board that require nothing heavier than
a fraction of an ounce of foam to come off the tank after liftoff.

Most shuttle flights, since the program started in 1981, have resulted
in at least some foam breaking off.

The fuel tank for the return-to-flight mission in 2005 is due to be
sent from New Orleans to the Kennedy Space Center launch facility in
Florida in early November.

Despite the obstacles, NASA officials said they remain upbeat that the
shuttle Discovery will make a launch window next year that runs from
March 16 to April 18.

The accident investigation report released last year excoriated the
agency for a number of failings, including an operating culture that
suppressed dissent.

Thomas Krause, president of Behavioral Science Technology Inc., a
consultant brought in by NASA to help transform that culture, said
there was ample evidence that employees were no longer afraid to speak
up about safety and engineering issues.

But he acknowledged that there was "no clear cut answer" to
determining what is acceptable risk.

Once the shuttles are flying again, NASA hopes to keep an ambitious
schedule averaging five flights a year until construction of the
International Space Station is complete and the shuttle fleet is
retired in 2010, but that date could slip if the launch schedule does.

"The milestone is the completion of the International Space Station,
not the end of the decade," said Bill Readdy, NASA's associate
administrator for the shuttle and space station programs.

The moon and Mars initiative announced by President Bush in January
will not begin flying until funding for the shuttle and space station
can be shifted to it.