Well, its bad news for the poor guys and girls in the shuttle Discovery. MORE stuff hit the shuttle and a heat tile came off. Also heard a bird hit the rocket on lift off. I hope to god that they can fix the problem and get everyone back safe.

 

I hadn't heard any of that. Hope it's not as bad as it sounds.



edit...just checked Foxnews.com. The tile that was damaged was a belly tile. Thankfully, not nearly as serious as the tiles lost on the Columbia. The belly, being flat and not directly in the way of heat friction from re-entry, won't be in as much danger of critical failure as the tiles on the leading edge of Columbia's wing.



Rob.

 

The only piece I saw come off the main fuel tank ,was like a piece of paper.
NOTHING actually hit the orbitor

Where are you getting your news ?

I think You can follow along live on the discovery channel web site.

 

I read somewhere yesterday, that one of the things they will be doing on this mission, is practice replacing damaged heat tiles. If it is damaged, maybe they're prepared for it.

 

Maybe, but I've heard that every one of the tiles on the shuttle is unique and cannot be interchanged with another one. If that's the case then there's no way a shuttle could carry an entire replacement set.

 

Each title is fit to one spot only, they are highly individualized, the problem they had yesterday will not affect this flight at all, the biggest concern on all flights is of course the leading edge from strikes, and the leading area on the nose gear door, that is of utmost concern and that area is OK

 

I had heard that some of them were damaged beforehand for the sake of practicing repair also. I'm not entirely sure. I tried watching it on space.com and it didn't work. Nuts to this computer.

 

I'm not sure losing a tile is that big a deal, as long it's not on a leading edge. I think they've said that tiles have been lost in many prior missions without any problem.

 

I had not read nor heard they would try replacing any titles on this mission.

 

A team has been working on several different ideas to replace/repair any tiles damaged during liftoff or hit with other "flying space stuff".

I watched a special on Discovery or some other channel about the ideas and it looked like they were very close to a viable solution to any tile problem that might come up. I'm sure that there was a procedure implimented before the shuttle ever got close to the launchpad.

 

Here's a link that provides more information...the last section on repairs.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/07/wo/wo_071305brown.asp?p=0

 

Losing a tile is nothing - the problem with Columbia was the foam shot a complete hole into the leading edge of the wing, taking tiles and structural metal with it.

 

hers some info on the tile that came off during launch: http://www.comcast.net/news/index.js...27/188496.html

 

I read somewhere that if the orbiter sustains enough damage that it can not return to earth safely that there is a second shuttle that can "go get 'um" at the space station.

Nice to have contingencies.


Russ

 

they are getting Atlantis ready to go, not necessarily just for rescue, they have a serious backlog of missions to do. When the leading edge on Columbia was damaged, i don't believe any structural metal went, but it wouldn't have to, because if the heat tile was damaged and the extreme heat of reentry was able to get past it, might as well take a plasma cutter to the metal because that would be the same effect.