NASA finds tiny hole in shuttle Atlantis (hit a radiator panel, it's happened before)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 10/6/06 | Seth Borenstein - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - NASA workers inspecting space shuttle Atlantis this week discovered that a tiny piece of space debris had punched a harmless hole in a radiator panel during the shuttle's flight last month.

Atlantis' six astronauts were never in danger, NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said Friday.

The damage was not to any part of Atlantis' important heat shield, which protects the shuttle from superheated gases during re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.

The shuttle's huge radiator system, attached to the payload bay doors, is crucial to cooling the spacecraft while it's orbiting Earth.

When the shuttle opens its cargo bay doors once in space, all eight radiator panels are exposed. When the shuttle heads back to Earth and the payload bay doors are closed, the radiator system is not used to cool the orbiter anymore.

The debris struck a right radiator panel, Herring said. NASA doesn't know if the object was a small meteoroid or man-made space junk because it disintegrated.

"It didn't do any damage, it was not an entry risk," the spokesman added. The hole was about one-tenth of an inch in diameter on the top of one radiator panel. Similar but larger damage has been seen once before, back in 1995.

Atlantis' September flight had problems with space junk, but the debris seen during the mission were probably not related to the radiator panel puncture, said Mike Curie, a spokesman for United Space Alliance, NASA's primary shuttle contractor.

A last-minute in-orbit inspection of the shuttle didn't detect the hole because NASA wasn't looking for that type of damage, Herring said.

In 2003, space shuttle Columbia broke apart because of a small hole in the shuttle's wing, which allowed in the superhot atmospheric gases. A breakaway chunk of hard foam from Columbia's external fuel tank had punctured that wing during liftoff. After the Columbia disaster, NASA began intense inspections of the shuttle, both by camera during liftoff and by the astronauts once in space.

[NormsRevenge]

This image provided by NASA Thursday Oct. 5, 2006 shows a close-up of the locatoin of an impact on the Space Shuttle Atlantis' right-hand payload bay door radiator. Space shuttle processing crews this week discovered a hole in Atlantis' right-hand payload bay door radiator. The impact occurred sometime during the STS-115 mission last month. The nature of the object that hit the shuttle radiator isn't known. The hit, which left a hole about one-tenth of an inch in diameter, didn't endanger the spacecraft or the crew, nor did it affect mission operations. The panels on the payload bay doors are used to cool the ship during flight and are not exposed during re-entry. (AP Photo/NASA)

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Redneck aliens got themselves liquored up and shot at the first thing they saw...

[Vaquero]

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Who'd've thought we'd make first contact with space aliens named "Earl" and "Billy Bob?"

[gridlock]

Hey! I thought it was a real buck! I got a permit!

[Mr. Jazzy]

Those damned kids with their BB guns!!!

[BurbankKarl]

Obviously a sniper in FL

>>Atlantis' six astronauts were never in danger, NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said Friday.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

I had to do an extended sales trip through the southeastern US in the early 1980s.

My car wound up getting five bullet holes in the sheet metal in six weeks.

[BookaT]

This reminds me of NASSA

The little known Negro Space Program

See it here: Warning You will laugh your ass off. notice the white guy with the muslim head piece, hat if you will.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1066910195685909200

You were warned!

[Robe]

Is your product sold in tiny plastic bags by any chance??

[GunnyHartman]

Foolish Americans. You are no match for my Aludium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator!!!

[LibLieSlayer]

pelosi's FAULT!!!

LLS

[patton]

So....what sort of bumper stickers are you sporting?

Never got a bullet hole in my car, yet, after 43 years down here.

[Yo-Yo]

Your car isn't sporting license plates from a Yankee State, either. LOL!

[r9etb]

What were you selling ... road signs?

[patton]

"I'm from NY, I'm GAY, I VOTE, And I AM HERE TO TAKE YOUR GUNS!"

Maybe he won the race - he made it home alive.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Is your product sold in tiny plastic bags by any chance??

Nope. I was selling CNC machine tools and associated system integration services.

[RightWhale]

A hole like that in my Chevy radiator would cause the antifreeze to leak out even faster than it does normally. The object was probably a paint chip in polar orbit.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

What were you selling ... road signs?

I asked one of the cops I dealt with if my Mustang resembled a road sign.

He didn't think so . . . "but then again, I don't have a quart of 'shine in me, so I may not be gettin' the whole effect, suh."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Wow. Getting a hole in your radiator on a road trip sucks but it ain't nothing compared to it happening on the space shuttle at 17,000 MPH.