Discovery still safe?

Following the inspection of Discovery’s external tank which led to the finding of a crack in the foam covering Nasa made the following comments:

“At a Mission Management Team meeting this morning, a decision was made to continue analyzing available data before making a final decision regarding tomorrow’s launch attempt. The question is whether there needs to be a hands-on inspection of the area around the foam crack before launch.”

It is believed that the fueling and emptying of the external tank along with the rain over the weekend led to ice build up which has then caused a crack to appear in the foam. It is now understood that a small piece of foam has been shed from the area around the crack.

Nasa have since said that even if that piece of foam had come loose during launch that it would have been too small to have caused any problems.

Didn’t they say that last time?

Matt

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