NASA said Friday it will replace the foam materials on its shuttle fuel tanks to avoid similar debris breaking off as happened during Endeavour's launch, following the discovery of cracked layers in the insulation foam of all three shuttle fuel tanks.
Wayne Hale, NASA's space shuttle program manager, said that an X-ray inspection of brackets on the shuttles' external fuel tanks detected the cracks, which could probably lead to similar debris-shedding incidents as that during shuttle Endeavour's liftoff on Aug. 8.
NASA officials decided that the insulation foam and the underlying layer of cork will be removed and then new foam will be sprayed on before the next shuttle flight.
NASA's three shuttles in service are scheduled to fly in the coming months. Hale said the tank repair work would not delay shuttle Discovery's flight, currently slated for Oct. 23.
However, if more time is required, NASA will not flinch from delaying the flight a few days and readjusting plans for the December mission and later ones as needed, Hale added.
Source: Xinhua
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