Shuttle to Fly Despite Safety Concerns

NASA said late Tuesday that the shuttle Discovery would launch next week on schedule, despite concerns from some safety experts that several heat-shielding panels were degraded, and should be replaced.

At issue are three panels on the leading edge of the vehicle's wing, built to withstand temperatures reaching 3,200 Fahrenheit as the shuttle reenters the atmosphere. Safety reviews have found these three carbon composite plates to be slightly degraded after recent missions – a particularly sensitive point, since it was the breakup of the leading edge of a wing that caused the 2003 Columbia to explode on reentry.

However, NASA officials said reviews have shown that these particular panels on Discovery haven't gotten any worse over the last three flights, and that the risk levels are acceptable. Here's Wayne Hale, NASA's shuttle program manager, in the Houston Chronicle:

"At the end of the day, we decided we were in an acceptable risk posture to go fly," Hale told reporters. "We will continue to work hard on it. As we go from flight to flight, if the risk grows to an unacceptable level we will take action."

Fixing the panels would have delayed the launch by at least two months, officials said.

Here's hoping they're right. The U.S. space program is already in a fragile enough position; the last thing NASA needs is another disaster to grounds the fleet and demoralizes astronauts further.

NASA clears shuttle for launch despite wing-panel concerns [Houston Chronicle]
Space Shuttle Discovery is "Go" for Launch [NASA]

(Image: Discovery at its launch pad. Credit: NASA/George Shelton)