CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers weren't ruling out a Fourth of July launch for space shuttle Discovery on Monday, even after inspectors found a 5-inch-long crack in the foam insulation on its external fuel tank.
Officials said they needed more time to evaluate the problem and planned to meet again Monday evening to decide whether to go ahead with the launch.
The space agency's engineers believe the crack was caused by the expanding and shrinking of the tank as it was fueled with supercold propellant, which also caused a 3-inch-long triangle-shaped piece of foam to fall off the area and land on a platform below.
The chunk of foam was too small to have caused …
Crack Found in Foam on Shuttle Fuel TankCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers weren't ruling out a Fourth of July launch for space shuttle Discovery on Monday, even after inspectors found a 5-inch-long crack in the foam insulation on its external fuel tank.
Officials said they needed more time to evaluate the problem and planned to meet again Monday evening to decide whether to go ahead with the launch.
The space agency's engineers believe the crack was caused by the expanding and shrinking of the tank as it was fueled with supercold propellant, which also caused a 3-inch-long triangle-shaped piece of foam to fall off the area and land on a platform below.
The chunk of foam was too small to have caused …
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