fredchabotnick,

The announcement to ground the fleet was made after the visual. Keep in mind that NASA has not said that Discovery is unable to return safely. That being said, should a puncture be found in the shuttle’s thermal protection system after launch, there are only two alternatives. One is to wait for rescue in the space station; the other is to use an experimental kit of ablative filler, which is designed only for smaller punctures.

One difficulty with holing up in the ISS is that the rescue vehicle, Atlantis, is the same design as Discovery. Let us hope that there is no significant damage to Discovery, and that she’s cleared to make her scheduled return.

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Eudaimonia