Following a series of wind tunnel tests and engineers reviews, Nasa has decided a further spacewalk to repair a torn thermal blanket on the shuttle Discovery is not necessary.
The US space agency told the seven crew members the shuttle would be safe for re-entry, due on Monday, despite the torn blanket below the cockpit window.
A Nasa representative told journalists that “I think in the old days we would not have worried about this so much”. Presumably the fact that all eyes are on Nasa at the moment is forcing them to be rather more cautious that they may normally have been.
On Wednesday, astronauts removed protruding material from the orbiter’s underside which was threatening the heatshield’s integrity.
If Nasa had decided upon a further spacewalk, it would have been the fourth carried out by the Discovery crew.
(Image: Nasa)
Matt
[Technorati tag(s): shuttle, nasa, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Discovery, Discovery, Space, Science]
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