Clinton Environmental Policy Sabotaged the Shuttle

... So why was such a crummy substance used in such a crucial
capacity, with the lives of seven astronauts at stake? Because
"environmentalists" fretting about their theory of human-caused
"global warming" wanted to use it. In a 1997 report, NASA mechanical
systems engineer Greg Katnik "noted that the 1997 mission, STS-87,
was the first to use a new method of 'foaming' the tanks, one
designed to address NASA's goal of using environmentally friendly
products. The shift came as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
was ordering many industries to phase out the use of Freon, an
aerosol propellant linked to ozone depletion and global warming,"
Knight Ridder reported. Insulation is sprayed on the shuttle's tanks
to keep the super-cooled nitrogen and oxygen fuels at the correct
temperature. Before the P.C. new insulation was used, about 40 of the
spacecraft's 26,000 ceramic tiles would sustain damage in missions.
However, Katnik reported that NASA engineers found 308 "hits" to
Columbia after a 1997 flight. A "massive material loss on the side of
the external tank" caused much of the damage, Katnik wrote in an
article in Space Team Online. He called the damage "significant." One
hundred thirty-two hits were bigger than 1 inch in diameter, and some
slashes were as long as 15 inches. Most frighteningly, some slashes
cut three-quarters of the way into the 2-inch-deep tiles, near the
ship's aluminum skin, which burns at only 350 degrees. More than 100
tiles had to be replaced - 11 times more than in a previous mission
that had used foam made from politically incorrect Freon. ...

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=68&ncid=68&e=2&u=/nyt/20030204/ts_nyt/engineer_s__97_report_warned_of_damage_to_tiles_by_foam