NASA ponders second repair in space

Posted on: Aug. 4th, 2005 || Source: cnn.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- NASA engineers are expected to decide Thursday if Discovery astronauts need to perform another repair to the shuttle's exterior.

Of concern is whether a damaged thermal blanket under one of the cockpit windows would tear away during re-entry to Earth's atmosphere and strike the orbiter, especially when the shuttle slows from Mach 20 to less than Mach 6, deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said.

Engineers estimate that any chunk of the blanket would weigh less than an ounce, Hale said. But NASA officials have to be concerned about "where might it go and what might it do."

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