Inspections Ease Shuttle Debris Concerns
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Frank Morring, Jr.
Further updates on STS-127 will be posted at the On Space blog.
Detailed laser inspections and preliminary results from digital photography as the space shuttle Endeavour approached the International Space Station Friday haven't turned up any evidence that what appeared to be a heavy cloud of debris during ascent damaged the orbiter's delicate thermal protection system.
Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon said late Friday that the position of the camera on the shuttle's external tank and its fisheye lens made the debris appear larger than it was. More troublesome for future flights is why thin strips of insulating foam peeled off the intertank area between the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks.
The Mission Management Team (MMT) that Shannon chairs decided to postpone rolling the shuttle Discovery to the vehicle assembly building from next Wednesday until Friday to allow time to conduct pull tests on the external tank foam for that orbiter's upcoming August mission to ensure it is safe. Launch remains set for Aug. 18, although a range conflict may push it back to Aug. 21, Shannon said.
Laser imaging inspections of the delicate reinforced carbon-carbon nose cap and wing leading edges conducted with Endeavour's robotic arm and a 50-foot extension boom turned up no damage, and the MMT cleared those elements for reentry. And the first look at photography from the ISS as Endeavour flew a back-flip to show its belly to the cameras revealed no damage beyond what appears to be minor scuff marks that were seen during ascent.
"The only damage we see to the tiles on the vehicle is what we saw during ascent," Shannon told reporters during a mission status briefing. "The underside looked completely clean except" for the dings noted earlier.
Meanwhile, the ISS is home to a record 13 space travelers with the arrival of Endeavour.
The shuttle's seven-member crew joins the ISS crew, newly doubled to six, for a week and a half of assembly, servicing and resupply work that will include five spacewalks and swap out of one crew member.
For the first time, all of the station international partners - NASA, the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are represented on board the orbiting laboratory complex.
"Houston, Station. We are ready on the big loop to invite our guests in the door," radioed ISS flight engineer Michael Barratt, referring to the communications links he was using as the hatch opened.
Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka rang the U.S. Navy bell, announcing "Endeavour, arriving" and "Expedition 20 Flight Engineer Tim Kopra, arriving," shortly after the hatch opened at 2:48 p.m. EDT.
"It's a remarkable event, not only for us, but for the whole space program," Padalka said.
"Thirteen is a pretty big number, but it's going to be an outstanding visit for us," replied Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky.
As Endeavour approached the station Polansky flew the orbiter through the now-routine back-flip rendezvous pitch maneuver at a range of 600 feet to give Barratt and Padalka a view of the thermal protection system on its belly for review by the experts in Houston. Docking came at 1:47 p.m. EDT, over a point just north of Australia. Once safety briefings were over, Kopra installed his custom-made seat liner in the Russian Soyuz capsule that will serve as his rescue vehicle for an emergency return to Earth. JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has been a station flight engineer for the past 122 days, removed his seat liner in preparation for returning to Earth on Endeavour.
Photo credit: NASA TV
