demonvamp
Member
|
# Posted: 3 Mar 2005 19:25
Reply
This computer-generated view of the bottom of the space shuttle Discovery in flight shows the orbiter's robotic arm, with an inspection boom attached, in a position to survey the wing for potential damage.
When Discovery rockets into space this year on NASA's first shuttle flight in more than two years, the astronauts aboard will carry a bevy of tools and techniques to ensure their spacecraft is safe.
In addition to a redesigned camera and external fuel tank, the seven astronauts assigned to Discovery’s STS-114 mission are toting with them new instruments to repair the shuttle’s thermal protection system, as well as a sensor-capped extension to the orbiter’s robotic arm.
“We’ll know the health of our vehicle,” STS-114 pilot Jim Kelly said during a recent spacewalk training session in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory tank at Johnson Space Center. “Once we have that, we can make intelligent decisions if something were to happen.”
Discovery is currently set to launch no earlier than May 15 to deliver tools and supplies to the orbiting international space station and test its own new equipment. The planned space shot is NASA’s first shuttle launch since the loss of the Columbia orbiter, which broke up during re-entry, killing its seven-astronaut crew on Feb. 1, 2003.
QD
|
