It's back! Shuttle Discovery

Image of the Day: The Space Shuttle
Complete Return to Flight Special Report by Space.com


The stories have all been written. Here's one from SpaceDaily.com concerning Discovery's last minute preparations for launch.
According to the story:
"Everybody at the US space agency, including the astronauts, understand that there are no risk-free shuttle missions, but nonetheless firmly believe that the only way to improve its performance is to send it back up into orbit." SpaceDaily.com

If you are wondering about precautions the story says:
"The insulation foam around the fuel tank has been completely modified to reduce the size of any piece that might tear away during liftoff. NASA believes there should be no damage from loose insulation, but just in case has trained astronauts to inspect and repair the shuttle in orbit." SpaceDaily.com

Space.com ran a similar story today. Here

It had a little more about updated safety features:
"Engineers have redesigned portions of shuttle external fuel tanks to prevent the type of foam shedding that doomed Columbia. An emergency plan to house the crew aboard the International Space Station has been sketched out in the off chance Discovery suffers critical damage during the mission." Space.com

Mission scientists also seem much more optimistic about the chances of conducting in-orbit repairs:
"Meanwhile, Noguchi and Robinson will test two methods of repairing the tiles and reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels that protect orbiters from the searing heat of reentry as part of their first spacewalk. A third repair technique to plug small holes in RCC panels will be demonstrated inside Discovery, while the two men wear spacesuit gloves." Space.com

The fact is, no repair system is perfect, no mission absolutely safe. The shuttle has always been an accident waiting to happen. The wait is over. The best we can hope for now is a system of stop-gap measures--review of launch images for possible damage and in-orbit inspections conducted with remote cameras--to avoid a complete loss. An emergency layover at International Space Station has also been approved.
We done what we can. Those of us not actively working on the project have done our share of fretting and praying and worrying. All that's left to do is wait.
It's not our call anyway. The crew says they are eager to get back to business.
It seems you can't keep a good group of astronauts down.
That's the way I like it.