Tiny Hair Found in Leak of Shuttle Rocket Seal
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<i> Associated Press</i>
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Workers searching for a leak in a space shuttle solid fuel booster rocket found a one-inch hair pressed into a secondary seal, a NASA spokesman said.
Each booster is made up of four segments, and the joints between the segments have three gaskets to prevent hot gases from leaking during launch. Such a leak was blamed for the 1986 explosion of the shuttle Challenger.
The leak was detected Tuesday in a segment on a booster for Columbia, which is set for a February Spacelab mission.
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