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George Bush talks over the telephone to the astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery from the White House. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
George Bush talks over the telephone to the astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery from the White House. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
George Bush talks over the telephone to the astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery from the White House. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Fingers, forceps and a homemade hacksaw: how Discovery will get repaired

This article is more than 18 years old

Nasa will send an astronaut on a highly risky spacewalk today to conduct the first in-flight repair to a shuttle in orbit and ensure Discovery's safe return to Earth next week.

Using his fingers, a pair of forceps and a homemade hacksaw, Steve Robinson will attempt to fix to Discovery's fragile heat-protection shield as he dangles beneath the shuttle attached to the international space station's robotic arm.

Despite the initial misgivings of some of the six crew members, Robinson will work between the heat-shield tiles to pluck out two protruding ceramic-fibre "gap fillers" that Nasa believes could disrupt the air flow and increase the danger to Discovery from ultra-hot temperatures as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere at the end of its 13-day mission on Monday.

If that fails, Robinson will cut away the material, sticking out about an inch from the orbiter's surface, using a hacksaw forged from a blade, plastic ties, duct tape and Velcro found on board.

"It's conceptually very simple but it has to be done very, very carefully," said Robinson, 49, who is concerned about damaging the delicate tiles during the spacewalk 220 miles above Earth, his third of this mission.

"The thing I'll be worrying about most closely is the top of my helmet because I'll be leaning in towards the orbiter."

Ongoing troubles with the ageing shuttle fleet, grounded for a third time because of the separate problem of insulation foam persistently breaking away from the fuel tank at lift-off, have pulled Nasa's plans for its next generation of space vehicles into sharper focus.

The space shuttle's replacement, scheduled to enter service by 2014, will incorporate elements of existing technology but undergo a complete redesign, the New York Times reported yesterday. The aim is to eliminate the dangers of falling foam and engine malfunctions that caused the deaths of 14 astronauts in two shuttle disasters, Columbia in 2003 and Challenger in 1986.

The biggest change will be a return to the older but safer principles of the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s, which placed payloads above the rockets carrying them into space.

"As long as we put the crew and the valuable cargo up above wherever the fuel tanks are, we don't care what they shed. They can have dandruff all day long," Mike Griffin, the head of Nasa, told reporters last week.

Nasa will unveil its concept later this month but, according to documents leaked to the Orlando Sentinel, and off-the-record discussions with engineers, the agency plans to split the cargo and crew-carrying duties of the shuttle's replacement between two vehicles.

The cargo vehicle, atop a powerful 106-metre (350ft) rocket, would be able to carry more than 100 tonnes, up to six times the current capacity of the shuttle.

The passenger craft, the so-called crew exploration vehicle, would be smaller and fired into orbit by a single 184ft rocket similar to one of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. It would be capable of taking astronauts to the space station and eventually the moon, to which Nasa envisages returning by 2018, and would also be adaptable for Mars expeditions in future years.

By making use of Nasa's network of shuttle contractors and expertise, managers hope to keep costs down and close what Dr Griffin says is the "unacceptable" gap between the retirement of the orbiters Atlantis, Endeavour and Discovery in 2010 and the CEV's proposed first manned flight four years later.

Nasa says it will choose between bids to develop the CEV from two of its long-time engineering partners, Lockheed-Martin and Northrop Grumman/Boeing, early next year.

Meanwhile, Discovery's astronauts took a call from President George Bush yesterday. "Thank you for being risk-takers for the sake of exploration and for being such great examples of courage for our citizens," Mr Bush said.

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