Columbia Marked by Delay, Faults
Space Shuttle Exempted From Some Maintenance

For years before it broke apart in the skies over Texas, the space shuttle Columbia was beset by recurring problems, glitches and close calls.
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NASA: Breach allowed hot gases to enter orbiter

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Rookies did analysis of damage to shuttle, Boeing engineers say

Veteran Boeing engineers say their company falsely led NASA to conclude that the space shuttle Columbia was safe to land because top managers assigned the task of assessing damage to employees who never had done that type of analysis for the space agency.
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NASA Considers Options for Space Station

Confined to their orbiting capsule at least until April in the wake of the Columbia accident, the three men aboard the international space station are putting a brave face on their predicament.

"We enjoy the environment on the space station," astronaut Kenneth Bowersox said the first time the crew spoke publicly after the Feb. 1 accident. "And we're going to enjoy the next two-and-a-half, three months."

Their bosses on the ground don't have that luxury. With the remaining three space shuttles out of service indefinitely, NASA and its international partners face some difficult choices about how to operate the station while its main link with Earth is severed.
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  thanks to Robot Wisdom