Foam Issue Resolved, But Will Michoud Be Ready?

With a fix now in place for the ongoing foam insulation issue, NASA has announced a goal of returning the space shuttle to flight by May of 2006 -- in time for a planned flight to the International Space Station. However, the plan depends on how quickly the agency can return to full operations at its hurricane-damaged tank assembly facility outside New Orleans.

"We have not set an official launch date," said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale at a news conference Friday, as reported in the Houston Chronicle. Hale then added "it appears a May window is something we can work toward."

The launch window that would allow the shuttle to rendezvous with the ISS runs from May 3 to May 23. A flight within this timeframe would occur ten months after the shuttle program was grounded following the July launch of the shuttle Discovery, during which new problems surfaced with the foam insulation blamed for the February 2001 loss of Columbia.

It appears the foam problem is resolved, however, as NASA previously announced an improved foam application procedure will be utilized on the tank used for the May '06 flight. As was reported in Aero-News, the new method will reduce the amount of insulation applied to a section of the external tank known as the PAL, or protuberance airload, ramp.

Richard Gilbrech, head of the NASA team working to find what caused sections of foam to drop from Discovery's tank, said one likely cause of foam loss during the flight was additional, repeated contact with the foam by workers during assembly.

Workers paying special attention to foam application issues may have inadvertently created new problems, according to Gilbrech, although he stressed there is no evidence of negligence.

The timing of the May '06 flight, the second in the "Return To Flight" test sequence and also utilizing Discovery, depends on how soon NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility can return to full operations following damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The external tank slated to fly with Discovery is now at the Michoud plant, which is currently operating with only 1/4 of its regular complement of 2000 workers.

"We will have lost equivalent of three months' work based on the effects of hurricanes," Hale said. He added the full workforce -- many of which lost their homes to the hurricane -- should be back to work at Michoud by December.

FMI: www.nasa.gov