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NASA suspends shuttle flights pending investigation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida
Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:53pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA will suspend flights of its space shuttle fleet until it understands why strips of insulating foam peeled off the fuel tank used by shuttle Endeavour during Wednesday's launch, officials said.

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"We're not worried about this one, but we need to understand what's going on for the next flight," said shuttle program manager John Shannon said on Thursday.

NASA has seven more shuttle launches planned to complete construction of the International Space Station. Its next flight is targeted for launch on August 18.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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