Shuttle Endeavour Docks With Space Station

[Maikeru]

Teacher-turned-spaceflyer Barbara Morgan is adjusting to life in Earth orbit after her 22-year wait to reach space.

"It's great being up here," Morgan said late Thursday via a space-to-ground video link. "We've been working really hard, but it's a really good, fun kind of work."

Morgan, 55, launched into space Wednesday aboard the NASA's shuttle Endeavour with her six STS-118 crewmates en route to the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts are delivering cargo, spare parts and a new starboard-side piece of the station's main truss.

Set for a 1:53 p.m. EDT (1753 GMT) arrival at the ISS today, Morgan and her crewmates spent much of Thursday scanning Endeavour's heat shield for signs of damage. The teacher-astronaut is also carrying 10 million cinnamon basil seeds aboard the shuttle for later distribution to schools on Earth and hopes to hold at least one, and up to three, video sessions with students during her flight.

Good to see NASA doing all of the right things again! Knowing that the ISS must be finished, or as close to finished as possible before the shuttle is retired, NASA is once again doing its best up there.

It should be rather curious to see what happens if th current generation U.S. shuttle is retired and the ISS is still not complete. The Russians will surely get in a few jokes at our expensive.

As an avid fan of space, the next few years will be interesting.

Cheers!

Maikeru Hatamoto

 

[Maikeru]

Potential bad news involving the shuttle Endeavour

The shuttle Endeavour suffered potentially dangerous damage to the ship's underside heatshield, apparently during liftoff, NASA said Friday.

The problem, which may require repair by some of the shuttle's astronauts, was discovered soon after the ship docked with the international space station.

A 3-inch-by-3-inch gouge was found in soft protective shielding under the shuttle's right wing in close-up photos taken by the station's two Russian cosmonauts as Endeavour approached for the linkup Friday afternoon.

NASA plans to take a closer look on Sunday, when shuttle astronauts wave cameras and lasers on the tip of Endeavour's robot arm across the gouge to measure its depth.

Endeavour's Wednesday night launch was tracked by cameras as well as radar, revealing what appeared to be ice dislodging from the spacecraft and spraying the damaged region, said John Shannon, who chairs NASA's mission management team.

NASA rediscovered the vulnerability of the shuttle's heat shielding in 2003, when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it descended to Earth.

The cause of the breakup that killed seven astronauts was traced to an undiscovered hole in the armoring of the left wing caused by a blow from breakaway foam fuel tank insulation during liftoff.

I expect NASA to check this little gouge quite a bit during tomorrow's investigation. The last thing the U.S. space agency needs is another disaster/tragedy like shuttle Columbia.