During its July 26, 2005, launch, cameras captured a large piece of foam falling from space shuttle Discovery’s fuel tank. Since the Columbia disaster two years prior – the break-up of the shuttle on entry and the deaths of the seven crewmembers – had been caused by foam hitting the wing and rupturing a heat shield, NASA announced on July 27 that it would be grounding all shuttle flights until the foam issue was resolved. A year of intensive investigation followed. The foam shedding was a known flaw of the space shuttles, and ultimately, several possible reasons were defined, rather than one specific cause. But NASA began enhanced testing and inspection procedures as a result, as well as vetting in-space shuttle examination and repair techniques. The space shuttle program was also put on a path toward imminent retirement, ending in 2011.
