Falling Window Cover Damages Discovery

Mz6 writes "At 5:30PM EDT, one of the space shuttle's protective window covers fell and struck the left Orbital Maneuvering System engine pod on Discovery today. The window cover hit the carrier panel around the OMS pod. NASA is taking a new panel to the launch pad to replace the one hit by the falling cover. NASA is expected to know by 7 PM EDT if the replacement panel will work and whether launch can proceed tomorrow as planned. The window cover in question is from one of the overhead windows. It fell on its own, not when workers were handling it. The cover was found after it had fallen and hit the orbiter. In addition to the carrier panel that workers plan to replace tonight, engineers are looking for any other damage." Update: 07/13 02:03 GMT by T : RmanB17499 points out a CNN story according to which "the launch of the space shuttle Discovery will go ahead as scheduled Wednesday after technicians replaced two protective tiles damaged near the spacecraft's tail Tuesday, a NASA spokeswoman said."

Comments

Windows

[mboverload]

Damn, I thought the shuttle was running Windows for a few seconds there.

Re:It fell on its own?

[LnxAddct]

Moron, read. It was a window cover, to cover the window until the window no longer needed to be covered. It protected the glass from any possible scratches. It was plastic and foam and fell while the shuttle was stationary, not moving like Discovery. This was intended to come off. I've heard mixed reports, but it seems workers were around the area at the time (or recently beforehand) working on the area (possibly loosening the window covers in preparation for taking them off in the near future). The whole situation was realized and fixed within 3 hours. This is absolutely not a big deal, if something this size had hit the shuttle a few minutes after lift off and the shuttle had some velocity then itd be a different story. There were reports that they probably didn't have to do anything, but after discovery they aren't taking chances and noone wants the finger pointed at them if something does go wrong. As a result, any minor detail that might be slightly askew is to be fully replaced and tested. This isn't happening because of shoddy engineering, its happening because people are sick of playing th blame game at NASA.
Regards,
Steve

FTUA

[nurb432]

Couldnt get to the article. So bite me.

Re:FTUA

[geekoid]

So you make uninformed posts?
Moron.