The scheduled July 1st launch of Space Shuttle Discovery has been delayed twice now because of weather. Now, it appears that a much more serious problem could put an end to plans to launch on the 4th of July.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Inspectors found a 5-inch-long crack in the foam insulation covering the shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank, and NASA managers were deciding Monday whether to call off the scheduled Fourth of July launch.
The crack was spotted during an overnight inspection. NASA had scrubbed launch plans Saturday and Sunday because of poor weather and had removed fuel from the tank.
The inspectors found the crack, which was an eighth of an inch deep, in the foam on a bracket near the top of the external fuel tank.
“We don’t know if it’s a problem or not,” NASA spokesman George Diller said Monday.
Umm, well you better figure out soon.
My guess is that if the engineers think there is even the slightest risk of this being a major problem, the administrators will scrub the launch. The political consequences of something going wrong on a Shuttle mission that launched on July 4th would be too much for NASA to bear.
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The question of how much politicking was involved in sending Challenger up on the day of the State of the Union address was never resolved to my satisfaction. I’d hate to see history repeat itself.