Shuttle Launch a go (so far)

Here's theNYT article on the Shuttle launch upcoming in July.

Although there is still a risk of dangerous foam debris, NASA officials cleared the space shuttle's external fuel tank on Wednesday for launching of the Discovery in July, after a year on the ground.

Shuttle program officials, meeting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said enough modifications had been made on the tank since the last shuttle flight to give them confidence that the foam risk was minor.

N. Wayne Hale Jr., manager of the shuttle program, said at a news conference that foam debris from different areas on the fuel tank would continue to come off and pose some risk of damaging a shuttle. But he called the risk "acceptable" and said, "We have eliminated the largest hazards."

Repeating a note often sounded by NASA officials and astronauts, Mr. Hale said the shuttle would always be risky to fly.

Michael D. Leinbach, the shuttle launching director at Kennedy, said the Discovery should be ready to launch within a window lasting from July 1 through July 19. In the approach to that window, managers will have unusually long contingency time, almost two weeks, to deal with problems that might arise.

Mr. Leinbach also said the shuttle Atlantis was on schedule to roll out to its launching pad on July 25 in anticipation of a mission beginning Aug. 28 or shortly thereafter.

--Space is risky business to begin with.

From Space Today net here:

NASA managers concluded Wednesday that foam shedding from the space shuttle's external tank does not pose a significant risk to the shuttle orbiter, clearing the way for next month's launch of the shuttle Discovery. Officials concluded that while foam will fall off the tank during the launch, the hazards posed by large chunks of foam have been mitigated so that those risks are in line with other aspects of the shuttle system. That risk could be further decreased with on later missions if NASA decides to proceed with the removal of foam "ice/frost ramps" on the external tank that are particularly prone to shedding. The decision allows NASA to proceed with preparations for the launch next month of the shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121: the launch window for that flight runs from July 1-19. An official launch date will be set during a flight readiness review in mid-June.

From Florida Today:

"It's a risky vehicle to fly, and nobody should mistake that. There are a number of things that can cause bad outcomes on this vehicle," shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said.

But the chance of potentially catastrophic damage from foam debris "is consistent with the entire overall risk we fly with the space shuttle," he added.

Hale's comments came at the conclusion of a two-day review considered key to clearing Discovery for launch of NASA's second flight since the 2003 Columbia accident.