NASA Rules Out Repair to Gouge in Shuttle
NASA managers decided last night not to send astronauts on a spacewalk to repair a gouge on the bottom of the space shuttle Endeavour.
My brother, dad (who worked for NASA), and I were discussing this last night. Why on earth (or in space) would one not go ahead and repair the gouge? No one seemed to be arguing that a space walk would cause more damage or be more dangerous than leaving the divot, so why not do it? This strikes me as particularly nearsighted. My (least) favorite quote?
“We don’t clear anything until we have the data to clear it,” John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said last night at a news conference.
Great, so a computer simulation says it will be OK. Just a bit of melting, but otherwise things will be OK. It’s not like NASA has ever had computer simulations go wrong before…
Pray for astronauts as the begin their return next week.
For those who travel on land, on water, or in the air, or through outer space, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
(Via NYT > Home Page.)
2 thoughts on “Why not?! NASA Rules Out Repair to Gouge in Shuttle”
Actually, an unscheduled spacewalk *is* inherently risky. They weighed the two risks and determined the spacewalk carried the greater risk to crew safety.
For example, on a scheduled spacewalk, “astronaut Rick Mastracchio noticed a small hole in the thumb of his spacesuit’s glove.”
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/orl-shuttle1607aug16,0,4743920.story
Yeah, I had the same question though until I heard further details.
David, it is true that any space walk has its risks, in fact, my understanding is that it is not uncommon for astronauts to accidentally cut their gloves while working. That is why Mastracchio found the cut, he was doing a regular glove check that they are supposed to perform every 30 or 45 minutes. (Or so I was told.)
Regardless, I am just very glad they are home safe and sound!