Back to newsletter listDate:
Fri, June 13, 2008 11:42:27 AMFrom:
CBS Space News
Subject:
1130a 6/13 Update: NASA says debris no threat; positive ID
=================================
CBS NEWS STS-124 STATUS REPORT: 61
Posted: 11:30 AM, 6/13/08
By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst
Changes and additions:
SR-58 (06/13/08): Crew tests re-entry systems; packs for return to Earth
SR-59 (06/13/08): Crew reports object near shuttle
SR-60 (06/13/08): Engineers believe debris may be clip from rudder/speedbrake
SR-61 (06/13/08): Debris identified; no threat to entry
=================================
11:05 AM, 6/13/08, Update: Debris may be one of three insulation clips from shuttle rudder (UPDATED at 11:30 a.m. with mission control update; debris not a concern
Engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston believe a flashing bit of debris spotted floating away from the shuttle Discovery this morning was a clip used to secure thermal insulation in the ship's rudder/speed brake to protect against heating during ascent. Flight controllers told the astronauts the lost clip poses no threat to a safe re-entry.
As for an apparent bump, or protrusion, spotted on the shuttle's vertical rudder/speed brake, engineers concluded it looked that way before launch and is not a problem.
"As you know, we've been talking about this down here and we're confident this is going to be no impact to entry," said astronaut Terry Virts in mission control. "I'll talk about the two different objects we saw separately. First of all, the bump that you saw on the rudder/speed brake we think is nominal. We compared it with pre-flight imagery and it looks exactly like it did pre flight. I think the reason you could see it was because the rudder was kind of angled to the left after the FCS (flight control system) checkout a little bit. But there's no issue with that.
"The other object that floated away turns out was a trailing edge split line barrier. Thanks to the pictures you took the resolution was very good, we were able to confirm it was that. That trailing edge split line barrier, it looks like a clip, its function is for ascent heating only. This is something we've seen ever since STS-1, orbiters have come back with those missing. It's just not a factor for entry."
Commander Mark Kelly reported the debris around 7:35 a.m., just after he and pilot Ken Ham finished a normal day-before-entry test of the shuttle's control systems. The big rudder in the shuttle's vertical tail fin, which can split open to act as a speed brake during approach to the runway, was moved from side to side about five times during the tests.
"We observed an object depart aft of the starboard wing," Kelly said. "Looked like, and obviously it's hard to tell dimensions and size looking out the aft windows, but it looked like it might have been a foot to a foot and a half in width. And we've got a pretty reasonable image of it."
A few minutes later, the crew reported seeing a small protrusion where two sections of the rudder/speed brake come together. They downlinked a short video clip of the debris, along with still pictures shot with a digital camera, and offered to power up Discovery's robot arm for a closer look at the rudder.
Flight controllers told the astronauts to sit tight and a few hours later, Virts told Kelly that engineers believe the debris might have been a clip used to hold a thermal barrier in place in the rudder/speed brake. They later were able to confirm that.
CBS News will interview the astronauts at 11:52 a.m. and entry flight director Richard Jones will hold a standard pre-landing news briefing at 2 p.m.
=================================
Quick-Launch Web Links:
CBS News STS-124 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
CBS News STS-124 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html
NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html
NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/
=================================
