Here is a chilling story of how the best engineering and design can go horribly wrong in the face of test after test. Wayne Hale relays this story about how Space Shuttle Discovery was nearly lost after a complete redesign and safety overhaul. Highly recommended – Anthony Advertisements
From Slashdot: BJ_Covert_Action writes: “NASA engineers have finally discovered the root cause of the cracks that have been found on space shuttle Discovery’s main external tank. The main tank, one of the ‘Super Lightweight Tank’ models developed by Lockheed-Martin, employs an aluminum-lithium alloy developed by Lockheed-Martin specifically for this application.