Astronaut backs decision on repairs
The commander of next week’s space shuttle flight said that she and her crew supported NASA’s decision to skip wing repairs despite opposition from half the engineers who took part in the launch review.
The concern is over a possible degradation of three of the 44 panels that line Discovery’s wings and serve as a thermal barrier to the searing atmospheric gases of reentry. In 2003, Columbia was brought down by a hole in these wing panels.
Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy voiced her endorsement after arriving at Cape Canaveral from Houston with her six crew mates.
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