Dec 11 1996
From The Space Library
In a postflight inspection, NASA engineers discovered that one loose screw had caused the hatch on Shuttle Columbia to jam, preventing the astronauts from taking their scheduled spacewalks. The screw had probably dislodged during takeoff, falling into the gears of the hatch. NASA had decided to cancel the spacewalks, rather than force the hatch open and risk damaging it permanently. With the Shuttle scheduled to launch again in one month, NASA faced the question of whether to remove and replace the gearboxes on all the hatches inside the Shuttle as a precautionary measure.
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