KSC-2009-4224

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Eugene Sweet (left), a principal liaison engineer, and David Buras, a Material and Process engineer from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans where the fuel tanks are built, are testing foam samples taken from the intertank of space shuttle Discovery's external tank. They are collecting foam samples an inch-and-half in diameter for analysis to confirm the foam is bonded well to the metal primer underneath. The testing of foam adhesion was prompted by the foam loss during launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission July 15. Samples are being sent to Michoud for study. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs