Tuesday, November 22, 2005

NASA Finds Cracks in Shuttle Fuel Tank Foam


A total of nine cracks were detected along a protective
foam ramp on NASA's External Tank 120, seen here leaving
the Vehicle Assembly Building, right, at Kennedy Space
Center last month. The tank was sent to NASA's Michoud
Assembly Facility in Louisiana for analysis.

Image source: MSNBC / AP

Tariq Malik writes in Space.com:

Engineers investigating a debris shedding problem with NASA’s shuttle fuel tanks have found a series of hairline cracks in the same area where foam popped free during the July launch of the Discovery orbiter, agency officials said Tuesday.

A total of nine cracks – only two of them visible on the surface – were detected along a protective foam ramp on NASA’s External Tank 120 (ET-120), one of several under scrutiny at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, tank officials said during a briefing at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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