Crew of Discovery inspect Shuttle for launch damage

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The crew of the Space shuttle Discovery – which launched successfully yesterday – have begun to make inspections of the exterior of the Orbiter.

They are checking for any damage that may have occurred during take-off – the Columbia was destroyed after a piece of foam falling from the external fuel tank split open a wing, allowing super-heated gas to enter the craft upon reentry, leading to its break-up.

The crew of Discovery are using a laser-scanner mounted on the end of the shuttle's 15 m (49.2 ft) long robotic arm. The inspection will consist of 90 minute sessions, during which a three-dimensional image of the surface of the nosecone and the leading edges of the wings will be built up.

NASA engineers are studying footage taken from a camera mounted on the external fuel tank, which appears to show a 1.5" (3.8 cm) piece of tile falling away from on or near the nose landing-gear doors. There is also footage of an unidentified piece of debris which fell away as the solid rocket boosters were jettisoned, and did not appear to strike the shuttle.

Sources

"STS-114 MCC Status Report #02" — NASA, July 27, 2005

"Discovery deploys robotic arm to examine wings, nose cap" — AFP, July 27, 2005

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