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Shuttle launch dates set

 NASA has set May 15 as space shuttl Discovery’s launch to be followed by a July 12 Atlantis launch.

Discovery’s crew of seven is to be led by Commander Eileen Collins.

Discovery and Atlantis will be so-called rescue shuttles for each other should something go wrong. NASA has been readying both shuttles side by side.

According to Readdy, engineers at the Kennedy Space Center have been working hard to upgrade the space shuttles, including hardening the vehicle and preparing them for returning to space, "The vehicles look like they are brand new cars," he said.

NASA has been developing repair techniques for the space shuttle’s thermal protection system for the past two years. Not all of the techniques have panned out and the Discovery crew will be testing only three potential fixes for tile instead of the five originally planned. There will be no tests on repair techniques for the reinforced carbon used on the shuttle’s wings, where the hole was created in Columbia.

Also, NASA has stated there will be no repair technique for a hole the size of the one that caused Columbia’s demise. Instead, the agency has focused on stopping foam from shedding from the external tank so no hole will be created in the first place.

posted by: kyawoo at 20:58 | link | comments |
space shuttle

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