Brittle

Brittle

The Write Stuff and The Flame Trench are reporting that the space shuttle Atlantis, currently sitting on the launchpad in preparation for a planned March 15th launch, suffered 700 - 1000 hits from a violent hailstorm (hailstones 1/4 inch to 2 inches in diameter were found around the launch pad).

Hail has previously pushed back the launch of the shuttle, when 650 hits were recorded in a 1999 launch. NASA has also had a woodpecker problem on the foam insulation on the external tank in the past. So, the shuttle might have to be rolled back into the vehicle assembly building for repairs.

Delays like this cost millions of dollars. The shuttle needs to be sitting out on the launch pad for weeks prior to a launch to get it ready, and with Florida weather NASA knows for a fact that there will be occasional violent storms. And yet, they leave shuttles sitting out there basically naked, awaiting whatever nature can throw at them. For a brittle system like the shuttle this is flabbergasting.

Common sense would dictate that if one has a two billion dollar asset that has to be sitting out in the weather for weeks at a time prior to use, that one should do at least the bare minimum required to protect it from the elements. Sometimes I feel like figuratively rapping my knuckles on NASA's head, saying "hello, McFly, anyone in there? Use a tent, stupid."