Aresearch.59 net.columbia utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!harpo!research!sjb Wed Sep 23 20:21:06 1981 fuel spill Up to 200 tiles have now been removed from the shuttle's exterior. Some came off by themselves, some were pulled off by technicians, and others were removed to test the effects of the nitrogen tetroxide fuel spilled on the orbiter on Tuesday. The silica tiles were not eaten away by the resulting acid, but the super-glue holding them was. They will be cleaned, decontaminated, waterproofed, and then reinstalled. A visual inspection of the shuttle's external fuel tank showed no damage. As the cleanup is on, all other work around the pad has stopped. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.