A Discovery space shuttle cockpit window cover fell,

[Be Brave]

damaging protective tiles near spacecraft’s tail, NASA officials say.

It's still a developing story on www.cnn.com.

On edit: See post #12 below for a news link.

And here is the updated CNN link:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/12/space.shuttle/index.html

[crispini]

1. Pssht. So much for the launch.

A window cover? :wtf:

[Be Brave]

3. Yeah, it just makes me all the more confident in NASA's

newest safety regulations. :sarcasm:

[fishnfla]

2. I dont see this story up at that link?

do I?

[Be Brave]

It's breaking story, so it's in red on top of the page.

It will disappear not too long from now.

[fishnfla]

9. well its gone already at the link you've provided

that or I'm blind

[Be Brave]

Still there as of 3:47 PM PDT. n/t

[fishnfla]

13. its there now...that was weird!

now you see it, now you dont!

[MindPilot]

5. red banner right at the top...eom

eom

[Enraged_Ape]

4. And this is 1970-what technology?

Believe me, I am 100% pro-space-program. I just think it's time we funded THAT instead of throwing away 100 times the amount on misbegotten wars.

[elvisbear]

6. So what's the hold up?

[johannes1984]

7. BBC says launch is still on

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4677495.stm

[ClintonTyree]

8. Better now than at lift-off..........

I guess. :shrug: Yeah, it really gives you a lot of confidence in design properties, doesn't it? Imagine how the Astronauts feel? :scared:

[Be Brave]

11. I'd be sweating bullets.

They're brave people, those astronauts.

[Connie_Corleone]

10. I heard the story on CNN right before Wolf's show went off.

NASA is trying to determine if this will delay the flight or not. Uh, I thinks it's time to upgrade their shuttles or something. They sure do fall apart easily.

[kansasblue]

12. Reuters link

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050712/sc_nm/space_shuttle_dc_16

[Be Brave]

14. Thanks much. I referenced your post in my original post. n/t

[truthisfreedom]

15. i'm glad they're taking it seriously and telling us what's going on.

[Be Brave]

17. Yup. They would be fools not to learn from their mistakes.

Especially when their mistakes cost lives.

[rzemanfl]

16. John Dean says * administration is hoping for a story that will

deflect from Rove. Would not want to be an astronaut right now.

[Richard Steele]

18. Yeah, no shit. I'd pack my own astro-bags if I was them.

[BattyDem]

26. Oh shit ... don't say that.

Don't even think it! :scared:

[daleo]

19. Safety check item #1

Make sure all the windows are closed.

[baldguy]

20. Launching the Space Shuttle - like firing a Fabrege Egg out of a cannon.

[habitual]

21. I mentioned to a friend

tonight that i had an uneasy feeling about the rush they seem to get this thing back up there. And I have to say -- whatever that was that fell, wasn't supposed to fall.

A piece fell off the damn shuttle while it was on the launchpad, this is not good.... i hope nothing else goes wrong, but that isn't a good sign.

I got in a used car once and the rear view mirror fell down, i looked at the guy and he knew I saw his con job and just gave up, i chuckled and left. I wouldn't want to be an astronaut looking up at that shuttle and seeing a window panel guard fall off. damn, i'd walk away...

[progressivebydesign]

22. Launch is a go, just reported. Does anyone have a feeling....

... that this launch is being ramrodded through, regardless of concerns? Far be it from me to suggest that there is ANY pressure from certain offices in power to give America that feel-good distraction of a successful launch? Don't NASA projects like these normally reflect well on a certain elected office?

Just askin' :shrug:

[habitual]

23. shit you made me think

we'll feel good if it works and be completely distracted from rove if anything goes wrong..... just a thought, bush made me this way...

[Im_Your_Huckleberry]

24. that's what i thought, too...

but i've always been this way.

[bpilgrim]

25. hopefully the wings will fall off next...

they need to keep this bird grounded, obviously

peace

[0rganism]

27. or the astronauts will refuse to board this POS

Imagine you're about to retrieve a car from a mechanic, and as you walk over to your car, the driver's side mirror falls off, shattering and damaging the left front tire. Do you drive it home?

[krkaufman]

28. them's some crappy tires

and no.

[Kraklen]

31. Same thing happened to Challenger and Columbia.

In fact, there were people on the phone with NASA telling them not to launch Challenger because they knew it would explode.

[anotherdrew]

33. I'd forgotten that, but yeah, people knew ahead of time there was a prob

with the cold weather and the O rings.

[anotherdrew]

29. if they can't fasten that on reliably what about the million other bits?

I've always loved the NASA mission but I've got a bad feeling about these remaining shuttle flights. I can't believe how badly we've short-changed the space program these last few decades. The fact that we don't already have a replacement is nothing but negligence. Now all we're going to be doing is putting weapons up there, and just so we can kill other nation's investments (people) any time we want. America had every chance to really be something great, but this, added to everything else we've done recently especially... America is over. How terribly sad. Might as well just admit it. It's just stager and fall from here on out, especially with bush selling/stealing the country

[DemoTex]

30. WTF? I have 17,000 hours in everything from Cubs to Boeing 737s.

I realize it is apples and oranges .. but! I have never seen so much malfunction on any flying machinery I have ever operated! I wouldn't fly that machine around the patch. Truly. Kudos to those with the guts to ride that rocket.

[2Design]

32. can't believe they are AGAIN going to send up a broken shuttle

they are going to again endanger these people - it broke - just fell off while sitting there - excuse me - this is not duck tape time

cancel this thing and do it right

[LastDemocratInSC]

34. It sounds awful but it is isn't that bad

The area where the window cover struck is called the OAMS pod. OAMS means Orbital Attitude and Maneuvering System. These are the two bulged pods between the orbiter's vertical tail. These pods contain the 2 maneuvering engines that give the orbiter its final push into orbit and allow it to maneuver to the space station and re-enter at the end of the mission.

These areas get hot on re-entry, of course, but they don't experience the extreme heat that the nose, wings and belly do.

On the first few space shuttle flights sections of tile popped off the OAMS pods at launch with no effect. NASA knows where the dangerous sections are and the OAMS pods are not those areas. What happened today was a gash in a tile ... the shuttle can re-enter and land safely even with tiles missing in those sections.

It sounds bad but it's not that bad.

Anyway, it sounds like NASA is going to replace the carrier panels anyway, as they should.