entry melted the wing from the inside out, causing the spacecraft to disintegrate as it headed to Cape Canaveral, Florida in February 2003. All seven astronauts aboard died. The small bit of foam that may have hit Discovery's right wing came off about 20 seconds after the big piece, and was from the same general area, Hale said. None of the newly installed wing sensors detected anything unusual. An earlier inspection with the laser didn't reveal any damage. Camera views during liftoff were inconclusive because the foam tumbled out of sight. NASA already has run tests showing that if the foam did strike the wing, it would have exerted just one-tenth of the energy needed to cause worrisome damage, Hale said. «So we feel very good about this,» he said. If the astronauts do find a problem with the shuttle, however, the contingency plan is to use untested repair techniques that were developed after the Columbia disaster or have the astronauts stay on the space station until a rescue mission can be launched. NASA said Friday it was trying to come up with ways to leave more water and oxygen aboard the space station than initially planned, given the grounding of its shuttle fleet. Water is generated as a byproduct of the shuttle's fuel cells, which power the spacecraft.
