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Shuttle Design Flaw Could Endanger Future Flights

NPR | By David Kestenbaum
Published June 13, 2003 at 12:00 AM EDT

Investigators say they've found a potentially catastrophic design flaw with the space shuttle that could result in parts of a heavy bolt striking the orbiter during launch. Officials do not think the flaw caused the shuttle Columbia to break apart, but it could ground the shuttle program longer than expected. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Copyright 2003 NPR
David Kestenbaum
David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.
See stories by David Kestenbaum