[pctech]

Agreed. I mentioned in an earlier thread that I thought the problem originated when they made the EPA happy and stopped using foam made with a freon based propellant.

Blasted liberal environmentals.

[Charles Martel]

I mentioned in an earlier thread that I thought the problem originated when they made the EPA happy and stopped using foam made with a freon based propellant.

This was discussed here after Columbia disintegrated. I'm pretty sure that NASA (and its contractors, insofar as space flight related activities go) are *exempt* from the boneheaded environmental laws. IIRC, NASA chose to reformulate the insulation anyway, and seems to have stuck by that decision rather than going back to the less troublesome recipe. This is a self-inflicted wound that NASA keeps picking at, rather than treating it and getting it to heal.