Space shuttle launch in doubt as foam shows cracks

Nasa managers were today deciding whether to call off tomorrow’s scheduled space shuttle launch after a crack was found in the foam of Discovery’s external fuel tank.

The crack was spotted during an overnight inspection.

Nasa had scrapped launch plans Saturday and yesterday because of the weather and had removed the fuel from the tank.

The inspectors found a crack 20cm deep in the foam on a bracket near the top of the external fuel tank.

“We don’t know if it’s a problem or not,” Nasa spokesman George Diller said today.

Officials were meeting to determine whether it could be fixed for a Tuesday lift off.

If Nasa decides to go ahead with tomorrow’s launch, it would be the first manned launch by the United States on the nation’s birthday, and only the second lift-off of a space shuttle since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Nasa Administrator Michael Griffin had decided the shuttle should go into orbit despite the concerns of two top agency managers who wanted additional repairs to the foam insulation.

The space shuttle Columbia was brought down in 2003 by a chunk of flyaway foam that damaged its wing, and another piece of foam broke off Discovery’s redesigned tank last July, barely missing the shuttle.