Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Discovery's tiles

I was going to live blog the launch of Discovery. I was having too much fun with my kids and watching yesterday's morning launch with them to blog. I liked the way NASA TV covered the Astronauts inside Discovery as the white room techs were strapping them in and making sure their com systems were working. It was great to see the replays of the launch from different camera locations.

With all the cameras taking pictures of the shuttle tiles and foam debris I thought Discovery came out pretty good. The main concern is the 1 1/2 inch tile that fell off during liftoff. The tile was near one of the landing gear housing. I remember when Columbia was first launched in 1981. Lots of tiles fell off and it came back safe. After over 100 launches it was pretty good for one tile to fall off this launch. I think its being overplayed but we have to get all the information before making assumptions. However, Columbia's accident 2 1/2 years ago is still on our minds. NASA can't afford another tragedy.

We're back and the Vision will go forward. To the Stars!

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