<img src="{att_link}wdisco05a.jpg" align="center" class="frame" caption="Biggest. Fireworks. Ever."> The shuttle program is 25 years old now and, ever since the 2003 crash of the Columbia, which was caused by pieces falling off, has had a much more touch-and-go feel to it---which is certainly attractive to NASCAR fans nationwide. As noted in the article, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/05/wdisco05.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/05/ixnews.html" source="Telegraph.co.uk">Shuttle fears over foam lost in blast-off</a>, the liftoff was not error-free, but the problems were well within expectations: <bq>'This isn't too abnormal,' said Bill Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for spaceflight. 'We fully expected to lose some foam.' ... Engineers maintained that the flyaway debris was expected to be small ... The flight was delayed twice because of bad weather and ... last-minute jitters over a chunk of insulation foam that fell from the fuel tank in the build-up to take-off, leaving a 4 in scar at the top of the tank.</bq> It just goes to show that there's nothing you can't accomplish if you don't lower your expectations.