US: Shuttle Discovery commander Eileen Collins said yesterday she was surprised the flying debris problem that brought down Columbia in 2003 re-emerged on their flight and said shuttles should not return to space until it was fixed.
She and astronaut Andy Thomas said in press interviews from space they were not worried about damage the debris may have caused Discovery, saying the orbiter looked "very clean" despite a few nicks to its protective tile.
"What I'd like to say is this is something that has to be fixed," Col Collins said. "I don't think we should fly again unless we do something to prevent this from happening again."
Videos showed loose insulation foam from Discovery's external fuel tank appearing to strike the orbiter wing as it took off on Tuesday, but the US space agency said it believed the shuttle was in good condition.
The astronauts were to use lasers and television cameras yesterday to inspect Discovery's wings and belly for damage for a second time in the mission.
Loose foam from the fuel tank knocked a hole in the heat shield of Columbia's wing when it launched on January 16th, 2003, and 16 days later the shuttle disintegrated over Texas as it glided toward Florida for landing. All seven astronauts died.
NASA has worked for 2½ years and spent $1 billion to stop the foam problem and make the shuttle safer.
"We were actually quite surprised to hear we had some large pieces of debris fall off the external tank. It wasn't what we had expected," Col Collins said. "Frankly, we were disappointed to hear that had happened."
Dr Thomas added: "We weren't surprised from the point of view that we think there's a risk to our own entry. We were surprised that it had happened after so many good people worked to mitigate the problem ... I think it's a bit dramatic to say we dodged a bullet," he said.
Col Collins took heart in the fact the loose foam came from a part of the fuel tank that had not been re-engineered, meaning, she said, that there was hope it could be fixed.