Posted: Sat, Feb 12, 2005, 1:54 PM ET (1854 GMT)
NASA has selected three methods of repairing tiles and panels on the shuttle to be tested on the first post-Columbia shuttle flight scheduled for May, the agency announced Friday. During a spacewalk planned for the mission, two astronauts will test a technique to repair cracks in leading edge panels by injecting a putty-like material using a caulk gun, then smoothing it out. They will also test a liquid that can be painted on damaged tiles. Inside the shuttle the crew will test a third technique, inserting carbon plugs into holes in leading edge panel samples. Two other techniques — a caulk gun that would place a reddish substance of damaged tiles and the installation of flexible overlays over damaged tiles — will not be tested because shuttle officials believe the techniques require additional work, although the tools for those repair efforts will be carried aboard the shuttle just in case. Discovery is scheduled to lift off in mid-May on STS-114, the first shuttle flight since Columbia was lost over two years ago.
