CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Oct. 24, 2007
Space Shuttle Gets Clean Bill Of Health
Preliminary In-Orbit Scans Find No Obvious Damage On Nose Cap, Wing Edge Panels
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Discovery blasted off at 11:38 a.m., carrying up a giant Tinkertoy-type link that must be installed at the space station before European and Japanese laboratories can arrive. (AP)
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With cacti in the foreground, Discovery heads to orbit, Oct. 23, 2007. (AP)
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Photo Essay Discovery Mission STS-120 Space shuttle and crew of seven bound for international space station.
Today's scan took on a bit of added significance because of pre-launch concern over subtle degradation in a protective coating on three of the 44 wing leading edge panels, which experience some of the most extreme heating during re-entry. While it will take another few days to complete analysis of the inspection data, nothing obvious could be seen in video downlinked from the shuttle.
"This briefing ought to be pretty short and sweet," lead flight director Rick LaBrode told reporters in a later morning status report. I'm happy to report that things are going extremely well. When the crew woke up this morning, they got started with their day, they were in outstanding spirits, it's really a pleasure to see them on the video downlink and see how happy they are and ready to get going. The vehicle is operating perfectly, we're not tracking any major issues."
Wednesday was the first full day of what NASA considers to be the most complicated space station construction mission yet. The shuttle is scheduled to reach the station Thursday.
NASA's space operations chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said after Tuesday's liftoff that the astronauts face a tremendous series of challenges, but noted, "I can't think of a better start to this mission than what we got today." It was the third on-time shuttle launch in a row.
Asked about the wing leading edge inspections, LaBrode said "we completed the starboard wing scan, the nose cap and the port scan was in progress, near the very end, when I left the console. And all of that was going very well."
While he did not watch the entire downlink, "I personally did not see anything of significance. The report that I heard from some of the folks in the hall was that nobody's seen anything of any significance."
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He also said there was not yet any detailed update on the performance of Discovery's external tank during the climb to orbit. NASA managers said Tuesday a quick look at ascent imagery showed what appeared to be a half dozen small pieces of foam insulation falling from the tank after the shuttle's solid-fuel boosters separated two minutes into flight. By that point, the shuttle is out of the dense lower atmosphere and debris is not as much of a concern.You all look like you're having way too much fun.
Mission Control to DiscoveryBefore launch, an independent NASA engineering group recommended delaying Discovery's flight to replace the panels after concluding the root cause of the degradation was not as well understood as previously believed, reports Harwood. Without a known root cause, they argued, it is not possible to make accurate predictions about how such degradation might evolve over time.
NASA managers, however, cleared Discovery for launch as is, based on past experience with the panels - the degradation has been fairly stable over two previous missions - and because any major change for the worse would be spotted by the crew during their normal heat shield inspections and if necessary, repairs could be made.
"As far as the foam liberation, I don't have any additional data," LaBrode said Wednesday. "What I had heard was that they had seen a couple of indications (of foam releases) and they were after SRB (solid rocket booster) sep(aration), so that they really weren't in what is considered the timeframe of concern. But I don't have any additional data on that."
The shuttle's primary payload is an Italian-built compartment, about the size of a small bus, that will serve as the docking port for science labs due to arrive beginning in December. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli is personally delivering the pressurized chamber, called Harmony.
During their 1½-week station visit, the astronauts must install Harmony, relocate a giant girder and set of solar wings, extend those solar wings and radiators, and test a thermal tile repair kit. Five spacewalks are planned, which will be the most ever conducted while a shuttle is docked at the station.
Astronaut Daniel Tani will move into the station once Discovery docks. He will replace Clayton Anderson, who will return to Earth on the shuttle after five months in space.
As they prepared for the inspection, Melroy, Tani and astronauts Scott Parazynski and George Zamka hugged and waved into the cockpit camera.
"You all look like you're having way too much fun," Mission Control said.
"That would be the STS-120 crew," Melroy answered with a laugh. "We're always having too much fun."
CBS News Space Consultant William Harwood has covered America's space program full time for nearly 20 years, focusing on space shuttle operations, planetary exploration and astronomy. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood provides up-to-the-minute space reports for CBS News.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The development of computers and space vehicles was parallel, not derivative. Each contributed to the development of the other, as would be expected of anything other than a closed system.
Your frequent posts in defense of NASA do not really shield the agency from much. NASA and its dedicated professionals-- as opposed to NASA''s more or less politically-appointed manager and staff-- continually must balance science with the latest idiocy from the "insane presidential directives" you mention.
Without getting into debate about relative merits of manned vs. unmanned missions, Bush threw out his 2004 proposal for a manned Mars mission to distract attention from an Iraq occupation that was going sour, fast. Despite his father''s lead in proposing a manned Mars mission (Bush41 proposed it in 1989!), the Bush43 proposal proves Bush belongs back in Crawford, launching sagebrush.
You know this drives a lot of people crazy, people who have an agenda to undermine the power of the people and the government to regulate corporations.
They want people to forget the government can do amazing things to inspire, lead and benefit everyone. And still NASA manages to continue to inspire despite budget cuts and lack of support and insane presidential directives on space science.