Shuttle material may cause re-entry danger

SHORT strips of filler material dangling from Discovery’s belly had NASA scrambling yesterday to determine whether they might endanger the space shuttle during re-entry.

The potential trouble has nothing to do with launch debris, but rather material used to fill the spaces between thermal tiles, a common problem in the past.

Flight director Paul Hill said engineers will spend the next day analysing the situation and decide today whether to have the crew’s two spacewalkers cut, pull out or shove back in the hanging material.