Minor damage seen to shuttle tiles
Posted: Wed, May 13, 2009, 8:42 AM ET (1242 GMT)
An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday turned up danger to several tiles, but shuttle managers said that the damage is only minor and will not require further inspection. The inspection of the orbiter, one day after its launch, revealed a string of shallow gouges extending over 50 centimeters across four tiles on the underside of the shuttle's right wing. Shuttle managers said, though, said that the damage didn't pose a risk to the shuttle because of their small size and location, and decided that a focused inspection of the area later this week wasn't necessary. Atlantis is set to rendezvous with and grapple the Hubble Space Telescope later Wednesday, with the first of five spacewalks to repair the spacecraft scheduled to begin Thursday.
An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday turned up danger to several tiles, but shuttle managers said that the damage is only minor and will not require further inspection. The inspection of the orbiter, one day after its launch, revealed a string of shallow gouges extending over 50 centimeters across four tiles on the underside of the shuttle's right wing. Shuttle managers said, though, said that the damage didn't pose a risk to the shuttle because of their small size and location, and decided that a focused inspection of the area later this week wasn't necessary. Atlantis is set to rendezvous with and grapple the Hubble Space Telescope later Wednesday, with the first of five spacewalks to repair the spacecraft scheduled to begin Thursday.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
NASA releases report on Starliner crewed test flight problems
Posted: Sun, Feb 22 11:45 AM ET (1645 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, February 25
DAF shakes up space acquisition leadership, Purdy takes ‘senior advisor’ role
Breaking Defense — 2:33 am ET (0733 GMT) Saltzman details focus on speed, accepting risk, long-term force design
US Space Force — 2:32 am ET (0732 GMT) SpaceX launches Starlink satellites into nice skies
Spectrum News — 2:27 am ET (0727 GMT) China vs SpaceX in race for space AI data centers
Fox News — 2:27 am ET (0727 GMT) SpaceX to launch Starlink mission from Vandenberg SFB Wednesday morning
Lompoc Record — 2:25 am ET (0725 GMT) |
