The shuttle fleet is still grounded with one exception because of the problem with the foam falling off the main tank. This is a technical problem that was already solved by using Freon to expand the foam. We apparently CAN'T solve it any other way or it would already be solved. I am very sick of hearing that we can't get a spacecraft off the ground because we can't solve a technical problem that was already solved. Political correctness is going to kill a lot of worthwhile endeavours. Of course, hemp for fuel hasn't been politically correct for over 60 years. We can't have a few pounds of Freon on the space shuttle because it might cause miniscule damage to the ozone layer, but we can lose a space shuttle and 7 astronauts because of it. We will have airplanes dropping out of the sky because lead is politically incorrect and lead-free solder isn't as strong.
