Noooooooooooo, not again. Space.com and CNN are reporting the fleet is officially grounded until further notice because foam was spotted flying off the external tank during yesterday’s launch. This was being heralded as one of the smoothest shuttle launches to date and in less than 24 hours the fleet is back in mothballs.
The irony of this decision is the crew of Atlantis is prepare to fly and rescue the Discovery astronauts if there is a major problem with the orbiter and cannot be repaired. So what happens if the orbital boom survey or the pictures from tomorrow’s space station fly-by show more than a chipped tile and it cannot be fixed? God help the decision makers if this ever comes to pass. What happens if the same thing happens to Atlantis on the way to rescue Discovery? We could have two-thirds of the orbiters crippled and hanging in space. Not a good thought.
Is Russia ready to rescue the US Space program again?
