NASA has all but ruled out a launch of the space shuttle Atlantis next month because it cannot guarantee the shuttle’s safety. “We probably will not make the September launch window,” said NASA’s Bill Gerstenmaier, the programme manager for the International Space Station.
Engineers have yet to pin down why a dangerously large piece of insulating foam fell from Discovery’s external fuel tank during lift-off on July 26. Gerstenmaier, who is overseeing the two rapidly assembled teams working on the issue, said there is still “no obvious root cause” for why the section of foam, nearly 1 metre long, broke…
