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Fewer Heat Shield Dings on Shuttle Discovery

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the excellent-driving-record dept.

According to NASA, the amount of damage to thermal tiles noted on Discovery was significantly lower after the latest mission. According to the report, there was a 33% reduction in the number of dings on the belly of the orbiter and an almost 50% reduction in the number of hits greater than one inch. This would seem to indicate that the new foam is working better. "The vehicle looked very good," Thomas Ford, a member of NASA's ice-debris inspection team at Kennedy Space Center, said Wednesday. "It's definitely gratifying."

7 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. What about... by darkrowan · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... the bleeps, the creeps, and the sweeps?

    --
    AccountKiller
  2. the only explanation by User+956 · · Score: 2, Funny

    According to the report, there was a 33% reduction in the number of dings on the belly of the orbiter and an almost 50% reduction in the number of hits greater than one inch.

    Clearly they didn't let the female astronaut make the return trip. I'm guessing they also didn't find any rubbermaid garbage cans crushed under the rear wheels, right?

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:the only explanation by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, it's true, statistically women put a lot more dings in the vehicle than guys, but I'm afraid the guys blow them up a lot more.

      And it's a cheap shot against women to make fun of them for it. Their notorious inability to judge distances is all the fault of the guys in the first place.

      They keep telling them that this:

      _________________________________________

      . . .is twelve inches.

      KFG

  3. Can we say... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Better foam, less ding! Coming to you at your local Starbucks!

  4. The REAL Test by nmb3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...blah blah blah this new stuff works great...

    I paraphrased a little there, but the REAL test of this stuff would be to park the shuttle in Walmart's parking lot for a few hours. See how it looks after that.

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
  5. Hmm by cheese-cube · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...number of dings on the belly of the orbiter...
    Dings? That's a tad un-technical. Just imagine what things must be like in the control room.
    Can we please have a report on the landing wheelie thingos? I think there was a ding on one of the balancy thingamajigs.
  6. Re:A flight every 6 weeks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Currently only Russians are able to do that. Shuttles' turn-around time is way too long and even though there's less damage it still takes one person a week per tile to repair. It's a good thing that NASA has more than one shuttle, and a good thing also that NASA has more than one employee! :-)