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Shuttle Atlantis Launched Without Incident
forkazoo writes "Space.com is reporting the successful launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. There were no major incidents or problems during the launch, except that there was some concern about the weather at the two European abort landing sites. The weather cleared up and the launch was pretty much perfect. 'Preliminary analysis of images taken by onboard cameras revealed expected "popcorning" foam loss during ascent but none that appeared to strike the orbiter. NASA has kept a close watch on the shedding of fuel tank foam insulation during shuttle launches since the 2003 Columbia accident, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts, and made modifications to reduce the amount of debris shed during liftoffs.' The launch was broadcast live NASA TV stream."
See my other comment for why it's not an easy task to decide whether to put the foam inside or outside. It's been done inside on eg the Saturn upper stages, and there are sound reasons both ways.
The alloys in question (one of the Aluminum/Lithium alloys, I don't remember which off hand) are just fine at deep cryo temperatures. Mostly it's steels that have trouble with cryos, most aluminums are ok. Many of them actually get stronger as the temperature drops, and I believe the Shuttle tank counts on this effect.
The solution to all of this, of course, is the obvious one -- don't use hydrogen! By many performance metrics, other fuels actually perform better, thanks to higher density and therefore lighter tankage for the same fuel mass. Kerosene, propane, and methane all have their benefits. It's time to get rid of the hydrogen religion, and go to easier to handle, cheaper, and better performing (in most applications) fuels.