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:Instead of slamming NASA

[docubot]

The awful thing is that this is going to be just another reason for Congress to loot the NASA money bag.

You're serious? Isn't it NASA that loots MY money bag? I'm all for exploration, but please spare me the pity party because Congress may want to save me a few BILLION dollars.