Sensor boom to scan shuttle during inspections today

Posted on: Jul. 27th, 2005 || Source: spaceflightnow.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

The Discovery astronauts geared up for a detailed inspection of the shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing leading edge panels today. The post-Columbia safety survey is designed to spot any entry-critical damage to the areas of the shuttle that experience the most extreme heating during the return to Earth.

The astronauts also plan to inspect tiles around the upper part of the shuttle's crew cabin and aft orbital maneuvering system rocket pods, along with checking out the spacesuits that will be used later in the mission during three planned spacewalks at the international space station.

Image analysts on the ground, meanwhile, continued assessing the potential significance of at least three debris events spotted during Discovery's launch Tuesday.

The shuttle's external tank suffered a bird hit seconds after liftoff and the apparent loss of a relatively large piece of foam or some other type of debris just after the ship's solid-fuel boosters were jettisoned two minutes and five seconds into flight.

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