TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Discovery's Crew Checks For Damage To Wings

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: June 2, 2008

CAPE CANAVERAL - Lacking the proper laser tools, shuttle Discovery's astronauts performed a cursory wing inspection Sunday as they zoomed ever closer to the International Space Station.

The astronauts used their ship's 50-foot robot arm to beam down camera images of the upper edges of the wings so engineers on Earth could check for any evidence of launch damage. Left unexamined were the lower edges of the wings and the nose cap, also particularly vulnerable hot spots during re-entry.

The astronauts' laser-tipped inspection boom is at the space station, left there by the previous shuttle crew in March. They'll retrieve it after they arrive at the orbiting outpost today and perform a full survey once they depart.

Discovery did not have enough room for the 50-foot boom - standard equipment on shuttle flights after the Columbia tragedy - because of the enormous Japanese lab that fills its payload bay.

About five pieces of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during Saturday's liftoff. And one or two of them may have hit the shuttle.

NASA officials said that they were not too worried because the foam losses occurred after the crucial first two minutes of the flight and lacked the acceleration to do much, if any, damage.
MARS PROBE
TUCSON, Ariz. - Scientists overseeing NASA's new Mars spacecraft say the lander's robotic arm has touched soil on the Red Planet for the first time.

The scientists said Sunday that the arm reached out the day before and left an impression that resembles a footprint.

They say it's the first step in a series of actions that will provide soil and ice for the lander's experiments.

The robotic arm camera also took images of what is thought to be exposed ice under the lander.

The Associated Press

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT