June 27th, 2002
NASA Finds Tiny Cracks in Shuttle Fuel Lines
Written by Fraser Cain
NASA controllers decided to ground the shuttle fleet this week when they discovered tiny fuel line cracks. The first crack was uncovered during a routine examination of Atlantis, so the other shuttles were analyzed and additional cracks were found in Discovery as well. Industry experts applaud NASA's decision to ground the fleet; since the Challenger disaster in 1986, NASA has put a greater emphasis on safety.
Filed under: Space Shuttle
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February 17th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
[...] say, a building, even if both pieces are expected to carry similar loads. More recently, in 2002, NASA had to ground the entire shuttle fleet when cracks were found in fuel lines that fed hydrogen to the main engines. Even unpressurized [...]