An embarrassed NASA tightened rules on the use of tools on the launch pad and opened an investigation into how the shuttle Discovery lifted off with a pair of pliers stuck on a rocket booster.
NASA said the pliers posed no danger during liftoff. But officials were amazed the tool, 8 to 10 inches long, remained wedged in a metal pocket on the outside of one of the twin boosters.NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone said a technician for Utah booster maker Thiokol Corp. noticed his pliers were missing April 2, six days before Discovery blasted off.
The technician told his supervisor, but the supervisor never filed a report and consequently no search was conducted, officials said. Before launch, shuttle managers were unaware the pliers had been lost at the pad, Malone said.
The boosters peeled away from Discovery as designed and, once emptied of their fuel, fell into the Atlantic, where they were recovered Saturday.
NASA is particularly sensitive about shuttle boosters. The 1986 Challenger explosion, which killed seven astronauts, was caused by a leak in a booster joint.
Discovery was to land Friday at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after eight days in space, but storms were forecast and the mission could be extended an extra day.