[Vwdiesel] NASA:-Shuttle Comander says "It's as thin as an eggshell"

[Mark Shepherd]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4745963.stm

"Thin as eggshell"

Commander Collins, who is making her fourth shuttle flight, said her
view from space emphasised how Earth's atmosphere must be protected
too.

"The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it's so very
thin," she said. "We know that we don't have much air - we need to
protect what we have."

While Commander Collins chatted from space, US space agency officials
were busy trying to decide whether a rip in an insulation blanket that
protects part of the shuttle surface could tear off and strike the
spacecraft when Discovery re-enters the atmosphere, possibly causing
damage