Severed Shuttle Foam Wasn’t Deemed Hazard
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Severed foam insulation was not considered a hazard even though it broke off during a shuttle launch a few months before Columbia’s doomed flight, a NASA expert said at a hearing into the accident.
James Halsell, an astronaut and launch manager, told the accident investigation board that the October incident on the Atlantis mission did not appear to be a reason to halt shuttle flights. On this and earlier launches, foam had not struck sensitive parts of the shuttle.
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