Discovery crew finishes look at shuttle wings

AP ^ | June 1, 2008 – 2 hours ago | JUAN A. LOZANO – 2 hours ago

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

HOUSTON (AP) — Space shuttle Discovery's seven-member crew completed an inspection of the spacecraft's wings Sunday afternoon, looking for any signs of damage after launching a day earlier.

Discovery, making its way to the international space station, is carrying the orbiting outpost's biggest room by far — Japan's $1 billion lab. The shuttle is also delivering a spare pump for the space station's malfunctioning toilet.

But the inspection of the shuttle was not as thorough as it normally is because the school-bus-size lab, named Kibo — Japanese for hope — takes up almost the entire payload bay.

That left no room for a 50-foot laser-tipped boom that is attached to the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm.

Usually on a shuttle's second day in space, astronauts use the boom and robotic arm to conduct a meticulous, slow-motion inspection of the spacecraft's wings and nose — the shuttle's most vulnerable areas — for any signs of launch damage. It's become a routine safety procedure ever since the 2003 Columbia accident.

Without the boom, Discovery's robotic arm was only able to do a partial survey of the thermal protection system, limited to looking at the shuttle's wings. The inspection began early Sunday afternoon and lasted less than two hours. Engineers on the ground were set to review the data.

A more thorough inspection was planned at the halfway point as well as near the end of the 14-day mission after Discovery's crew retrieves a laser-tipped boom left behind at the space station by Endeavour's astronauts when they visited the orbiting outpost in March.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief, said the limited inspection combined with photographs taken of Discovery just before it docks with the space station on Monday should give agency officials good data to determine if anything happened to the spacecraft during launch.

"We've got a very solid plan for this," he said.

About five pieces of debris — what appeared to be thin pieces of insulating foam — broke off the fuel tank during liftoff on Saturday.

But the losses did not occur during the crucial first two minutes and should be of no concern, Gerstenmaier said. This was the first tank to have all safety changes prompted by the 2003 Columbia disaster built in from the start.

Discovery's U.S.-Japanese crew planned to conduct three spacewalks to install Kibo, replace an empty nitrogen-gas tank and try out various cleaning methods on a clogged solar-wing rotating joint.

Kibo is 37 feet long and weighs more than 32,000 pounds. The first part of the lab flew up in March, and the third and final section will be launched next year. Kibo will bring the orbiting outpost to three-quarters of completion.

During the mission, the space station's two Russian residents will put in the new toilet pump.

The outpost's three residents have had to manually flush the toilet with extra water several times a day, a time-consuming, water-wasting job.

One of Discovery's astronauts, Gregory Chamitoff, will move into the space station for a six-month stay. He'll replace Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth aboard the shuttle.

On the Net:

• NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

[NormsRevenge]

No problemo.. they got options if a ding or two is found when they do a thorough once over with the boom

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related thread:

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch Live Thread (5:02 pm EDT)

[NormsRevenge]

Mission specialists Karen Nyberg (C), a University of Texas graduate, and Mike Fossum (R), a graduate of rival Texas A&M University, flash their school hand signs at the end of interviews with their respective college hometown TV stations from the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Discovery in this image from NASA TV June 1, 2008. Also on the flight deck for the interviews are fellow space travelers (L-R) Akihiko Hoshide of Japan, Pilot Kenneth Ham, Gregory Chamitoff, Nyberg, Ronald Garan (top), Commander Mark Kelly and Fossum. REUTERS/NASA TV

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good to seem them smiling....

[NormsRevenge]

Talk about your 8 minutes of terror... what a ride! and whata view!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I’m somewhat puzzled by the concept of the space station.

It would seem logical to put it at a very high orbit, so it would use much less fuel, then make it cumulative, so that every time someone went there, they would take another piece of the station, so that eventually it would become very large.

It might even serve to have a smaller station in lower orbit, tethered to a much larger station further out, both to save fuel and to reduce shipping costs.

[JRandomFreeper]

Yep one in a Lagrange orbit would make sense. But the government's of the world are doing it, so LEO it is.

Governments have 0 intelligence, little responsibility, and generally, no small clue.

/johnny

[KevinDavis]

[wastedyears]

You got that right.

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm just a cook, former spook, and sometimes wireless engineer. What do I know except that you lose 1oF per 500 feet for the boiling point of water.

They know it all. Just let them do it. Just shrug.

/johnny

[wastedyears]

Personally, I wouldn’t let out the second thing.

[JRandomFreeper]

My Old Crow stuff is really OLD CROW stuff. I'm that old.

/johnny

[wastedyears]

Then that’s fine I guess.

I wouldn’t know really.

[JRandomFreeper]

Anything from 1986 or so is less spooky than in 1986.

/johnny