Yes, our invincible, intergalactic fleet has been grounded again by snowballs. Okay, hail, but still pretty sad. The Atlantis shuttle is still grounded in Florida since the hailstorm back in February. At the time of the event NASA reported that"a severe thunderstorm with golf ball-size hail caused what could be 1,000 to 2,000 divots in the giant tank's foam insulation and minor surface damage to about 26 heat shield tiles on the shuttle's left wing. Further evaluation of the tank is necessary to get an accurate accounting of foam damage and must be done in the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the entire tank can be more easily accessed."
As of today, NASA states the Atlantis may get of the ground in June. Miss this window and we will be into hurricane season - what fun.
Who do we blame? NASA for wimpy construction, or Al Gore for not predicting this in his film? We may want to follow the example of the Europeans and more our space launch sites closer to the equator. If it is not hail it will be a rising sea overtaking Cape Canaveral. How about floating platforms, similar to the private sector space industry? Then not even Global Warming can stop our attempts to resettle on Mars before everything Earth-side is gone.
Oh well, keep your fingers crossed.
Note: The image above is a refurbished North Sea oil platform owned by Sea Launch, a private sector firm. The launch platform provides accommodations for 68 crew and launch system personnel.
