Posted: Wed, Jul 27, 2005, 2:05 PM ET (1805 GMT)
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery conducted an inspection of the exterior of the orbiter Wednesday, looking for any damage to its tiles and panels caused by Tuesday's launch. The inspection served as a test of a new boom-mounted camera and laser system developed in the wake of the shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Shuttle managers said one known area of damage, a chipped tile on the underside of the orbiter near the nose gears doors, should not pose a problem to the shuttle upon reentry. Shuttle engineers are also studying what appeared to be a large chunk of foam from the shuttle's external tank that fell off during launch. Although the chunk did not strike the orbiter, it is a cause of concern for engineers, who strived to prevent pieces of foam from falling off the orbiter. Discovery is on schedule to dock with the International Space Station on Thursday morning.

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