Feb 20 2004
From The Space Library
NASA announced its findings concerning how and why a piece of insulation had separated from a fuel tank on Space Shuttle Columbia, an event that had later contributed to Columbia's destruction upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere. According to NASA official William F. Readdy, NASA had determined that extremely cold fuel had liquefied air or nitrogen, which subsequently had seeped into a portion of the foam or had collected on nuts and bolts below the foam, eventually expanding and explosively jettisoning a piece of the foam. The foam had shot from the fuel tank, hitting the orbiter and creating a large ~ and ultimately fatal ~ gash in its left wing. Before the Columbia tragedy, engineers had believed that when the fuel tanks shed foam, it fell away from the body of the orbiter. Readdy stated that NASA had redesigned the fuel tanks and improved techniques for applying the foam to remedy the problem that had caused the accident to Columbia. (Warren E. Leary, “Repairs and Need for Rescue Craft Pushed Back Shuttle Timetable, NASA Says,” New York Times, 21 February 2004.
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