June 10, 2007
Experts Check Damage
as Atlantis Closes In to Fetch Sunita By Arun
Kumar
Washington
As US space shuttle Atlantis hurtled up to bring Indian American
astronaut Sunita Williams back home after a six month sojourn in
space, NASA experts studied a damaged thermal blanket at its rear.
Stitches holding the blanket that forms part of the shuttle's heat
protection may have ripped during Friday's launch, causing a few
inches of the thick material to peel away from Atlantis, US space
agency NASA said.
If experts determine the damage poses a threat to the safety of the
shuttle, which encounters high temperatures when it returns to earth
a space walking astronaut could repair it, officials said at a
briefing at Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
On Saturday evening, Atlantis was about 4,000 miles behind the space
station and catching up at the rate of 713 miles per orbit. It's due
to reach an awaiting Sunita at the International Space Station
Sunday afternoon (1:00 a.m. IST Monday).
Atlantis' seven crew members inspected the spacecraft's heat shield
using its robotic arm and an attached boom extension to check its
underside, nose cap and leading edges of the wings as well as hard
to reach shuttle surfaces.
The robotic arm cameras were used to take a closer look at an area
of insulation blanket on the port orbital manoeuvring system pod
that pulled away from adjacent thermal tiles. Experts on ground are
analysing the imagery to determine if any repairs are needed.
Since the 2003 Columbia accident, the space agency has been
particularly sensitive to issues involving fuel tank foam.
Columbia's tank shed a piece of insulation during lift off, which
smashed into the ship's wing and broke a hole in its heat shield.
The shuttle was destroyed as it attempted to fly through the
atmosphere for landing 16 days later, killing all seven astronauts
aboard, including Indian-born Kalpana Chawla on her second space
mission.
The crew also prepared for their arrival at the Space Station
checking the extension of the shuttle's docking ring and the tools
they will use to rendezvous and link up with the station.
Astronaut Clay Anderson will replace Williams who is also set to
break astronaut Shannon Lucid's record for the longest space flight
ever by a woman -- 188 days and 4 hours - three days before Atlantis
brings her back to Earth June 19.
Anderson will join Russian Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight
engineer Oleg Kotov at the space station and would return with this
year's third NASA space mission in October.
Atlants was originally scheduled to fly in mid-March, but two weeks
before blast-off the spaceship's fuel tank was damaged during a
freak hailstorm that passed over the Kennedy Space Centre Feb 26 and
needed extensive repairs.
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