Time can get away from any of us, without our even noticing. It’s incredible that we are soon coming up on 4 July, but prior to that is the launch of the shuttle Discovery on 1 July.
I hope the space agency experts are right, that she is safe to fly, but at least two, and perhaps more of them disagree on that. The problem of foam separating and falling off the ice/frost ramps has not been fully resolved. And I’m as ill-at-ease as anyone. We were very fortunate in July 2005, when the foam that broke off on Discovery’s last flight did not do serious damage.
The official attitude (if the astronauts’ new technology sees damage that would make it unsafe to return to Earth, a second shuttle, Atlantis, would be sent to rescue them) still boggles the mind somewhat. A second shuttle would have the same potential problem, since future modifications will likely not be finished by July. There is no third shuttle yet capable of bringing two other shuttle crews back to earth from the International Space Station, nor can the space station support that many astronauts, and if there were and it could, the unresolved problem from potentially damaging pieces of foam is still there.
I fully agree that the space station must be completed, if it is to serve its intended purpose. It just seems unreasonable that the problem that caused the Columbia disaster of 2003 has not been fully solved. Yet the search for a solution involved highly complex research, as well as an emotionally charged decision to launch that the best scientific minds cannot agree on, so who am I to put in my two cents’ worth? Still, I feel anxiety, and pray that these brave souls will complete their missions and return to us. I do not wish to add more names and faces to my tribute before it is time. The problem now is one we know about, one we should have resolved.