Backup Shuttle Moved Onto Launch Pad

Fox News ^ | 9/20/08 | AP

[AngieGal]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the launch pad Friday for a trip NASA hopes it will never make — a rescue mission. The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts who go up on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home.

[cyborg]

bizarre

[Nonstatist]

This mission was rushed, lets pray everything goes ok.

[SlapHappyPappy]

Not really. More and more NASA is acknowledging that the aging shuttle fleet is risky to keep flying.

[Empireoftheatom48]

We need to keep the shuttle flying until we have a replacement. We can not trust the Russians on this. The next thing you know the Russians will be claiming the ISS for their own.

[EEDUDE]

“bizarre”

Considering the fact that pieces seem to fall off the shuttle and do some damage every time it’s launched, I can sort of understand some of the thinking behind this.

Several of the last few missions have required external inspection of the shuttle, while in orbit, to determine if reentry can be accomplished without burning up. Heat shield damage from falling fuel tank foam is the danger.

It’s ironic to note that fuel tank foam coming apart on launch was never a problem until NASA was forced to “go green” and replace the original foam with a more environmentally “friendly” foam.

It’s not like the amount of “ozone depleting” foam used on the shuttle was going to make much difference in the big picture.

[cyborg]

Good to be prepared I guess. Sounds like they rushed things a bit.

[Moonman62]

ore and more NASA is acknowledging that the aging shuttle fleet is risky to keep flying.

I don't think it has anything to do with age. They are just now acknowledging the risks that have been there from day one.

[BenLurkin]

ping

[The Duke]

Bureaucrats don’t belong in space. They don’t have the “right stuff”.

[Finny]

Bottom line: the nation that dominates space technology, will dominate the planet. Those who say, "B-b-b-b-but we should be spending that money to solve problems here on earth before we spend it on space!" are fools. America should aggressively pursue complete dominance in space technology, balls-out, pedal-to-the-medal.

It’s ironic to note that fuel tank foam coming apart on launch was never a problem until NASA was forced to “go green” and replace the original foam with a more environmentally “friendly” foam.

It’s not like the amount of “ozone depleting” foam used on the shuttle was going to make much difference in the big picture.

I agree almost ... except in that it's beyond irony -- it's suicidal criminalism, and that the "ozone depleting" foam wouldn't make ANY difference at all, not one smidgen, in the big picture. The environmentalists' superstition (not religion) regarding man's "permanent" impact on the global climate is literally like saying a 1/10,000th of a second of film blemish in "Gone With the Wind" would make a difference in the movie.

Ben, I was about to ping Kevin when I saw you'd beaten me to it.

[smokingfrog]

Makes sense. I’m surprised they have never built a special “rescue ship” to evacuate people from the space station or shuttle in the event that something goes wrong. The rescue ship could be much smaller than a shuttle. It would only need to be large enough to carry critical repair parts or passenger seats for a few astronauts to return to earth.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.

EEDUDE,

It’s ironic to note that fuel tank foam coming apart on launch was never a problem until NASA was forced to “go green” and replace the original foam with a more environmentally “friendly” foam.


That's not exactly correct ... I worked at the New Orleans Michoud Facility from 1983-1988 ... where the Space Shuttle External Tank is fabricated.


I worked for two years as a SOFI Manufacturing Engineer (Sprayed On Foam Insulation) ... reporting to Mssrs. XXXXXX and YYYYYYY, under the direction of ZZZZZZZ, Martin Marietta Corporation (MMC) division manager.


I initiated the "first ever" computerized database (Fortran) of SOFI "tensile test failures" on the External Tank, a database that tracked these "adhesion plug-pull tensile test" failures with respect to specific locations on the External Tank ... with data from 10-15 External Tanks in my database.

This database contained "plug-pull" tensile-test (adhesion) data from (approximately) 40-60 "specific areas-locations on each of the External Tanks that MMC had built.


The "plug-pull" test data measured the adhesive strength between the SOFI (polyisocyanurate foam) and the External Tanks aluminum skin. As I recall, the nominal acceptable "plug-pull" tensile adhesion value was between 20-30 psi.


I had effectively created a 3D "data map" of External Tank SOFI "weak spots" ... with data sortable by specific locations on the External Tank, such as the LO2 (Oxygen), LH2 (Hydrogen) and Intertank secions ...


In the post-Challenger environment, NASA encouraged "everyone" to report mission-critical "latent defects". MMC management also played this "game" with the employees.


I reported my data and findings to MMC management ... and was "effectively" ignored.


Then, magically ... one day in 1988 I was unexpectedly called to the office of ZZZZZZZ, Martin Marietta Corporation (MMC) division manager, where, in the company of a few individuals (including, as I recall an MMC attorney) I was given a special (secret) $ 250 award for my SOFI failure investigation efforts.

My family used this $ 250 to purchase a new clothes washer and dryer from Commeaux's ... a New Orleans applicance store, long since out of business.


I was told that an Aerodynamics Engineer in Huntsville (Marshall Space Flight Center) had been studying damage to the Space Shuttle Heat Tiles ... for multiple flights ... and had concluded that "repeated" ares of Tile Damage had been analyzed to be coming from SOFI debris from the External Tank.


Some of the areas that he identified as "problem areas" on the External Tank ... corresponded to the "problem areas" that my computer database had identified as SOFI "weak adhesion areas".


What that means ... for Rush Limbaugh's "Friends in Rio Linda" (LOL) ... was that External Tank SOFI (Foam) debris was breaking-off during "almost every" Space Shuttle launch (1983-1988) ... striking the Space Shuttle Orbiter ... and damaging the Thermal Protection Tiles that protect the Orbiter during re-entry.

This "mission critical" failure was PREDICTED and KNOWN and understood FULLY by both NASA and MMC as far back as 1988 ... as aopposed to the FARCE and "spin story" that it was discovered ONLY during the ill-fated Columbia launch in 2003.


MMC terminated my employment about three months later ... after I protested being transferred "away" from the SOFI engineering group ...


My requests to discuss this with NASA Managment (Marshall Space Flight Center) were, of course .., ignored by NASA.


Why didn't I speak-out after the Columbia Disaster before the various Congressional Committees investigating this ?

Because I would have been "black-balled" from ever working again ...


My life will end someday ... and now my Free Republic colleagues ... in addition to my children ... now have a written record of the truth about how the Columbia Space Shuttle loss was completely preventable ... and was caused by NASA and MMC incompetence and corruption ...


I Remain,

Patton-at-Bastogne


"May God and His Angels Guard Your Sacred Throne, and May You Long Become It ..."

Shakespeare, Heny V


.

[MinorityRepublican]

We need to keep the shuttle flying until we have a replacement. We can not trust the Russians on this. The next thing you know the Russians will be claiming the ISS for their own.

Well, its our own fault that we didn't replace our space shuttle sooner.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Space shuttle Atlantis on pad 39A, left, and space shuttle Endeavour on pad 39B stand ready at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. Atlantis is targeted for an Oct. 10 launch on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for a mission to the International Space Station on Nov. 12. (AP Photo/John Raoux

[patton]

Well now, that is something I never read before.

How the heck are ya? About five years no talk.

[EEDUDE]

Wow! What a story! Thank you for posting that comment.

Sadly, I believe everything you said about being ignored by management when a safety issue is uncovered. As an engineer, I have been in exactly the same, though much less dramatic, kind of situations.

I won’t go into any of it here, but let’s just say that it has cost me at least one job. It was worth it.

Risking human lives so management won’t look bad or to fulfill an uncritical agenda is immoral.

Do you know whether or not I would be correct in stating that the situation got WORSE with the new environmentally friendly foam, or was that just a BS cover story to explain later failures?

[Patton@Bastogne]

.

Thanks ...

I believe the "green foam" contributed ... but that NASA knew about the "dangerously" weak SOFI issue 15 years in advance.

That's why they NEVER installed "lots" of pre-launch cameras BEFORE the Columbia crashed ... and NASA was "forced" to start doing "on-orbit" Shuttle inspections (from the Space Station) ...

Any idiot could have seen that those "on orbit" inspections were essential ...

Well ... back to the real world ...

.

[Finny]

Wow! Now posts like that are what make Free Republic great!

Thanks, P@B!

[Sundog]

Well spoken.

Thanks for leaving this documentary on the shuttle tanks’ foam with us.