NASA To Decide On Yet Another Shuttle Repair Mission

NASA to Discovery Astronauts Stephen Robinson and Soichi Noguchi: Don't hang up your spacesuits just yet. The shuttle's EVA team may have yet another task to perform before the orbiter returns to Earth on Monday.

One day after Robinson rode the shuttle's 58-foot long robotic arm beneath the shuttle to repair two areas where the material that fills gaps between thermal tiles was dangling loose, he and his Japanese counterpart may be ordered back outside to examine and perhaps repair damage to the thermal blanket just below the commander's window on the flight deck.

NASA officials said the blanket does not pose a danger to overheating. However, engineers were performing tests overnight to determine the likelihood of the blanket coming off during descent, thus becoming a source of debris.

In a Wednesday afternoon briefing, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager Wayne Hale said a team of aerodynamic engineers is working around the clock to perform several tests with three sample blankets.

The team will try to replicate the damage and simulate the Shuttle's descent in a wind tunnel to learn how the insulating material might react. The aerodynamics team seeks to understand when, if at all, the blanket could tear away and what size piece or pieces could come off.

Hale said, meanwhile, the EVA team is developing a plan for a potential additional spacewalk to repair the thermal blanket.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html