Fuel Tank Foam Crack May Delay Launch
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on July 3, 2006 at 5:34:39 PM
NASA has discovered a crack in the insulation foam on the fuel tank of Discovery. They may repair it or fly as is. This is not a crack in the tank, just the foam.
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"Repair is an option, fly as is is an option," LaNasa said. "It is not rare to repair damage on the pad. It is more rare to roll back." LaNasa said the external tank's liquid oxygen feedline is designed to flex during the fuel loading before a launch and unloading after a scrub. That flexibility, he said, allows the 17-inch feedline to handle the super-cold -297 degree Fahrenheit temperature of the liqid oxygen.