NASA Finds Critical Assembly Fault in Shuttle

mzs writes "During corrosion inspection on Discovery, technicians noticed that one of the gears in a rudder actuator had been installed backwards. This particular actuator was the top-most of four that control the air brakes on the tail. As luck turns out, if it had been the bottom-most actuator, loss of the shuttle and crew would have been nearly inevitable. Plans are in place to have four spares by the time Shuttle missions resume next year."

Comments

Re:Simple solution, really.

[Lattitude]

Even better, they are going to machine them so they mechanically impossible to put in backwards.