The idea was first proposed by German engineer Adolf Busemann, an influential aerospace designer who among other things first proposed the use of ceramic tiles to protect the Space Shuttle on reentry.
Separate from the recommendations, NASA said it was re-evaluating risks to the public from shuttle launching, reentries and landings, particularly the potential danger to people and property under flight paths to its three primary landing sites.
The fatal breakup of Space Shuttle Columbia on reentry following its 28th mission was tragedy enough that other shuttle missions were scrubbed for over two years.
But it appeared permanently grounded after the shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry in 2003, and NASA rethought the shuttle program.
And when the shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry in 2003, killing seven, the Russians agreed to help ferry U.S. astronauts back and forth to space.
When the researchers analyzed videos filmed from the shuttle Columbia before it broke up on reentry, they found that lightning strikes did not flash randomly throughout a large storm system.
Upon atmospheric reentry, hot plasma seeped into the shuttle and tore it apart.
In 2000 Mukai was the deputy mission scientist for the STS-107 mission, which flew in January 2003 and ended in tragedy when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated and the crew perished during atmospheric reentry.
While it looks like a plane, is launched on a rocket, has a cargo bay and uses some of the same technology as the shuttle, such as thermal shielding to protect it during reentry, it is smaller and unmanned.
ET-94 was the so-called sister to ET-93, the tank of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart and burned up on reentry in 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board.
