NASA Says No Additional Spacewalk Is Needed

That loose thermal blanket just under the commander's window on the space shuttle Discovery may be a bit tattered, but it's no cause for yet another repair-in-flight spacewalk. So say the powers that be at NASA.

"No EVA 4. I would say that's good news," mission specialist Soichi Noguchi of Japan's JAXA said when told of the news at about 1300 EDT Thursday. Now, you know enough is enough when an astronaut decides he doesn't want to go EVA.

The thermal blanket under the commander's window was loose and a bit torn -- perhaps from debris which might have impacted the orbiter on launch. It would have been the fourth spacewalk for Noguchi and his American counterpart, Stephen Robinson. Wednesday, Robinson successfully removed dangling bits of gap-filling fabric from between thermal tiles at two points on the shuttle's belly. It was the first-ever EVA aimed at shuttle repair.

The news means the crew aboard Discovery can now start making preparations for landing on Monday at the Kennedy Space Center. Aero-News.Net will provide real-time coverage of the landing, beginning at approximately 1530 on Monday afternoon.

FMI: www.nasa.gov