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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."
It is sad that a Shuttle launching with no problems is major news.
The "old" foam wasn't any better. In fact, Columbia rode an old tank on her ill-fated STS 107. The fact is, Shuttles have been returning with TPS damage for the entire program. But much like the erosion in the SRB o-rings pre-Challenger, the threat was never perceived to be so great that action was necessary to prevent a loss of vehicle/crew. Now we know better, and now they take every ounce of foam loss very seriously.