New Cracks Found In Space Shuttle Discovery
November 11th, 2010 - 9:13 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
Cape Canaveral, Nov 11, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The final take-off of the space shuttle Discovery which is scheduled to take place later this month might face a major hurdle after two cracks were found in the external fuel tank of the space shuttle. The cracks were found by the technicians while they were in the process of inspecting a crack that has formed in the tank’s foam insulation on Wednesday. Discovery was set to be launched heading towards the International Space Station on Friday but it had be further delayed in the wake of a hydrogen gas leak.
According to NASA officials, the nature of the cracks are being evaluated to ascertain how they can be repaired as the space shuttle remains in its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Allard Beutel, a spokesperson of NASA has divulged that the exact method as well as the schedule of the repair is still being figured out and at the moment the technicians are taking a look at the repair option that can be undertaken at the launch pad. NASA officials have revealed that similar repair work has been carried out in the external tank by repairing the ruptured aluminum before the foam is replaced but such kind of repairs have only been undertaken in the production phase of the tank.
Keeping in view, the repair that is being conducted on Discovery, NASA officials have said that the launch of the space shuttle cannot take place before November 30. When it takes off for the International Space Station, it would be the last journey of the space shuttle Discovery.
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Tags: allard, cape canaveral, exact method, external fuel tank, external tank, foam insulation, gas leak, gina gomez, hurdle, hydrogen gas, international space station, kennedy space center, last journey, launch pad, nasa, nasa officials, new cracks, production phase, repair option, space shuttle discovery