IT SEEMS like such a simple problem. Yet a quarter of a century after the shuttle’s first launch, NASA still cannot guarantee that the foam insulating the launcher’s fuel tanks will stay attached during lift-off. It was a chunk of foam falling off Columbia in 2003 that punched a hole in the wing and sealed its fate.
Over the past couple of weeks, NASA has been explaining with unusual frankness why this problem is so intractable. Its account highlights a fact we all too easily forget: that much of manned space flight takes place at the limits of our technical…
