Launch Tomorrow a Go: NASA

Safety board concerns are an 'acceptable risk'
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2007 10:00 AM CDT
Launch Tomorrow a Go: NASA
NASA officials, from left, NASA Associate Administrator Chris Scolese, Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, space shuttle program manager, Wayne Hale, space shuttle launch director, Mike Leinbach and NASA Engineering and Safety Center Director, Ralph Roe answer questions...   (Associated Press)

With one eye on potentially disastrous weather, NASA is preparing to launch its most ambitious space mission ever tomorrow, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The launch is a go despite an independent safety board's recommendation to delay because of hairline cracks in Discovery's wing panels. NASA says the cracks lie within the realm of “acceptable risk.”

The agency is under pressure to end the shuttle program by 2010 but says that hasn't influenced the decision to launch. The shuttle crew, led by only the second woman commander, will add a bus-sized module to the space station—the first addition in 6 years. At least five spacewalks are planned, and solar panels will be rearranged. (More NASA stories.)

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