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.