nasa discovers small crack in redesigned fuel tank

ladies and gents,
NASA discovers crack in the new fuel tank but still plans to launch.
stephen.
www.space.com/missionlaunches/050406_shuttle_delay.html

Am I the only one who is a little worried by this cavalier attitude to a crack in the very thing that doomed columbia?

BB

I am interested in the Space Shuttle launch in May, and I hope it is a sucess, but lets face it, the shuttle is a spacecraft with a major bomb launching it. The astronoauts must be very cool headed people and must have no fear. I like doing outreach to schools, and recently I screened the Space Shuttle DVD(The Dream is Alive) for 5 and 6 year olds, they were amazed as because of their age they had never heard of the Space Shuttle and they were in awe of it, and really got into the countdown and the blast off, and they wanted to know "why are the men floating?"and lots of other questions and lots of WOW's.Later that day they produced the most startling drawings of the shuttle, and I have requested a Shuttle poster from NASA for them. I really hope the crack in the tank is sorted out for the safety of the crew, and also because the Shuttle launch will focus the attention of a lot of people and children on the space programme, which apart from the Shuttle, is I belive going through a renaissance of exploration of extraordinary depth and interest.

Regards
Deirdre Kelleghan
IAS

I have requested a Shuttle poster from NASA for them. I really hope the crack in the tank is sorted out for the safety of the crew, and also because the Shuttle launch will focus the attention of a lot of people and children on the space programme, which apart from the Shuttle, is I belive going through a renaissance of exploration of extraordinary depth and interest.

Regards
Deirdre Kelleghan
IAS

I rmember many years ago being in similar awe of the US Space program. At the time I wrote to the US embassy for more information and they sent me back some posters and booklets. I'm not sure if they still post out goodies like this (or just give a rather bland web address instead) but it might be worth suggesting to the kids that they write directly to NASA or the US embassy for information. The feeling of getting official stuff directly from NASA in the post was immense to me at the time.