NASA is expected to
relaunch its space shuttle into space in May or June this year. The disaster of
Space Shuttle Colombia in 2003, which claimed the lives of all of its crew,
forced NASA into reviewing its safety measures before sending people into space
again. NASA now believe they have addressed any possible causes of the Space
Shuttle disaster and that future space flight using the Space Shuttle will be as
safe as can be. Space Shuttle Discovery is planned to take off in mid-May from
the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The cause of the 2003 disaster is
believed to be a problem with the insulating foam falling off Colombia's left
wing during take-off. This allowed super-hot gases to enter the shuttle during
re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and the eventual disaster which caused the
shuttle to break up on re-entry.. This caused NASA engineers to make dozens of
changes to the external tank design. One of the changes is that instead of using
foam to prevent ice build-up on a "bipod fitting" which connects the
external tank to the orbiter, the shuttle now uses electric heating. Other
enhancements include better image filming and photography. NASA has installed
cameras on the space shuttles which will take amazingly detailed images of the
shuttle, the rockets, Earth, Space, etc. throughout the whole mission. This is
so that any faults can be discovered quickly. It also means that future Space
Shuttle missions will photograph some of the best images of launches, Earth from
Space and landing ever available. Returning to flight means that NASA can
continue with the development of the International Space Station which is
currently orbiting Earth and hopefully re-establish belief that space travel is
safe.
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