No Major Issues for Space Shuttle Launch

Before Nasa launches the shuttle Discovery into orbit this July, it must meet all 15 recommendations following the Columbia disaster. It has met 12 of them and the task group overseeing the works is hopeful of completing its work in time for the launch.

In their report after the 2003 Columbia disaster, in which seven astronauts were killed, accident investigators wrote that NASA must have a "practicable" solution for repairing "the widest possible range of damage."

Exactly what that means set off a debate during a task force public hearing in Houston on Wednesday.

"We’ve got not only ambiguity in the wording of the recommendation, we’ve also got apparent dissenting views of some of the CAIB members themselves," Covey said in a teleconference after the hearing.

"So we naturally have some disagreements about what the real intent was."

The debate might be a moot point, as far as NASA’s intent to launch shuttle Discovery goes. Liftoff of the first mission since the Columbia accident is targeted for between July 13 and July 31.

During the two years since the accident, the shuttle program has made significant headway on minimizing tank debris.

Engineers have eliminated a foam ramp that broke free during Columbia’s launch and changed many of the tank’s manufacturing processes. Several areas have been redesigned to hold down debris from foam as well as ice, which can form as a result of the tank’s super-chilled propellants.

However, concern remains about whether parts of a liquid-oxygen feed line still have the potential for ice buildup. NASA managers are scheduled to review that risk and others on June 24, then forward the results to the task group before the panel’s final report.