Shuttle crew assess damage amid fears over return leg

THE crew of the space shuttle Endeavour unpacked their ship’s robot arm yesterday, latched on an extension to double its length and deployed it beneath the spaceship to image heat shield damage that occurred during their launch last week.

NASA believes the damage is minor, but leaves little to chance since losing Columbia in 2003 from a similar incident.

The shuttle’s design allows some insulation from its fuel tank to fall on the orbiter during launch.

John Shannon, deputy shuttle program manager and head of the mission management team, said: “We don’t think it [the debris impact] went all the way down to the bottom of the tile. If we even have half the tile left, then we’re not going to have any issues at all.”

The shuttle has ceramic heat-resistant tiles and carbon panels to protect its aluminum skin from melting during re-entry. Temperatures around the damage site can reach 1,093C.

Columbia disintegrated as it flew through the atmosphere due to undetected damage caused by a piece of insulation that fell off the shuttle’s external fuel tank during liftoff. All seven crew aboard died.

Though managers believe the 8.9cm gouge on Endeavour is not a safety hazard, they ordered an extra inspection to gather more information.

The scans should yield a 3D portrait of the damage caused by the chunk of foam that fell off the fuel tank a minute after liftoff on Wednesday. Engineers will then determine if repairs are needed before the shuttle is cleared.