Reasons To Suspend Space Travel
From Yoni Goldstein: A(nother) reason to suspend space travel
In June, I argued in this space that NASA should postpone space exploration until it could be sure that their space shuttles wouldn’t burn up on re-entry because of gashes in heat shields caused by rogue pieces of foam.
“The disintegration of the Columbia shuttle during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003 — apparently caused when a piece of foam damaged the shuttle’s thermal protection system — was the beginning of NASA’s dark age,” I wrote. “Three shuttle missions have since flown (though all NASA flights were officially suspended for more than two years after the Columbia disaster), but in each case, pieces of the same foam have been lost during takeoff, causing worry that a Columbia-like tragedy could occur again.” Read more
