Space Woes: NASA programs reel from shuttle problems

Two and a half years after the catastrophic breakup of the shuttle Columbia, NASA’s shuttle program roared back into space with the July 26 launch of Discovery. But faulty sensors, falling foam, and dangling insulation have raised concern for the safety of Discovery’s astronauts and sparked worries for the space program’s future.

FLAP ABOUT. Dangling cloth insulation between tiles on the shuttle’s belly, shown in detail in the inset, might have caused dangerous overheating of the shuttle on reentry.