Tue, Mar 17, 2009
Discovery Scheduled To Dock At Station Tuesday
After being caught off guard last week,
officials at NASA kept close track Monday of yet another chunk of
space trash that threatened to come uncomfortably close to the
International Space Station, as the shuttle Discovery maneuvered to
a Tuesday rendezvous with the orbital outpost.
The Associated Press reports the four-inch-long chunk of debris
-- from a Soviet-era satellite that broke apart in 1981 -- was in
danger of coming within a half-mile of the ISS. The object's
erratic orbital track makes it difficult for scientists to pin down
an accurate track.
Further complicating matters was Sunday's launch of Discovery.
As ANN reported, the shuttle is now inbound to
the station to deliver the final set of solar array panels needed
to bring the ISS up to full power, in order to support a full crew
of six.
NASA feared it would need to alter the station's orbit,
should the object track closer than engineers were comfortable
with... but NASA announced late Monday the "debris avoidance
maneuver" wouldn't be necessary.
Scientists say the orbital debris was from the old Kosmos 1275
military satellite... which broke up under mysterious circumstances
soon after launch nearly 28 years ago. There's a chance that
accident was caused by collision with orbital debris, though
Russian scientists maintain a battery onboard the satellite
exploded.
In related news, on Monday the seven-member crew of Discovery's
STS-119 mission spent their first full day in orbit. As has become
routine for shuttle missions following the February 2003 loss of
Columbia on reentry, the crew conducted detailed inspections of the
orbiter's nose and forward wing sections, using laser scanners to
look for damage incurred to the fragile heat shield during
launch.
A preliminary inspection showed no evidence of damage, and video
recorded during launch showed no significant incidences of
insulating foam from the external tank striking the delicate
underside of the orbiter.
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