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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Thumbs Up
August 16, 2007 6:54 PM
A little late to be terribly useful, here is a closeup of the damage Wednesday to Rick Mastracchio's spacesuit glove.
And here's a LINK to a picture of some shuttle tiles on the ground after an experiment to see what would happen if Endeavour re-entered without any repair to the damage on its underside.
In essence, the tiles were placed in a chamber and exposed to re-entry temperatures and airspeeds. (Just to be clear, the picture is NOT a new shot of the tiles on Endeavour.) MMT chair John Shannon said that at hypersonic speeds, the outer layers of tile would be peeled back--the gash would get larger--but with air rushing past, the temperature of the aluminum beneath would only be 40 degrees F. higher than it would be if there were no gouge.
There's more HERE from AP.
August 16, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (1)
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I hope, for the sake of the astronauts, that NASA's ground tests prove accurate.
Posted by: chuck | Aug 17, 2007 7:57:55 AM
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