Space shuttle crew inspect for damage

Space shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts have inspected their ship for any launch damage today as they raced toward a 200-mile-high rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Barely a day after blasting into orbit, the shuttle crew used a 100ft, laser-tipped boom to check the thermal shielding on the wings and nose.

A few pieces of foam insulation broke off the external fuel tank during Monday morning’s launch, including a narrow 12in strip, but there was no indication anything hit the shuttle.

The laborious process got under way late on Monday and stretched into this morning.

The astronauts were in the home stretch – surveying Endeavour’s left wing - when the screens suddenly went black, but mission control at Cape Canaveral in Florida worked with pilot Terry Virts to get everything back in order.