The one-minute fix for the space shuttle

NASA officials announced today that all future space shuttle flights are grounded until they can figure out why chunks of foam insulation keep flying off the external fuel tank during launch.

NASA could save millions of your tax dollars by doing a quick Google search for "space shuttle" and "Freon."

Let me save you the trouble: Click this link or this one.

In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency forced NASA to stop using Freon to make the foam that insulates the external fuel tank. A more environmentally-friendly substitute foam repeatedly chipped off during launch, but NASA chose to ignore the problem rather than confront the EPA on the politically touchy question of ozone depletion.

No one at NASA had the integrity to stand up and tell the country that if the space program wasn't granted an exemption from the ban on Freon, astronauts were likely to die.

And now they have.

And now the entire space shuttle fleet is grounded.

The space program can set an inspiring example of courage and daring by standing up to the environmental lobby and forcing an honest discussion of the consequences of environmental regulations.

If scientists in America can't tell the truth, the space shuttle isn't the only thing that's finished.



Copyright 2005

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