NATION IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : NASA Finds Cracks in Shuttle Wings
An inspection of the entire space shuttle fleet was ordered at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after NASA found tiny cracks in the heat-resistant covering on the shuttle Atlantis. A Nov. 19 mission for the Defense Department may be postponed, officials said. Engineers found the hairline cracks when they removed seals from the leading edges of the wings during a routine inspection of Atlantis. The seals, made of reinforced carbon fiber, keep the shuttle from melting under the friction-produced heat it encounters during the return to Earth.
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