Cape Canaveral, Fla. – With a 4-inch gap in the space shuttle Atlantis’ heat-protecting blanket not appearing to be an urgent problem Saturday, the crew prepared for what NASA called a delicate ballet with international space station Alpha.
Then the shuttle will enter a week-long embrace today with the orbital outpost.
The seven astronauts, including University of Colorado graduate Steven Swanson, spent much of Saturday inspecting the delicate heat tiles, outer edges and blankets for problems similar to the kind that caused the fatal Columbia accident in 2003. As of Saturday afternoon, no glaring problems were reported.
The crew spent extra time using a robot arm to look at a gap in a thermal blanket. The gap, about 4 inches, appears to be the result of an unusual fold, NASA spokeswoman Lynette Madison said.
Mission managers discussed the gap and were not ready to pronounce the blanket completely OK until more analysis was done, NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said. It was not expected to change the plans of the next several days, he said.
“We’ve landed safely with damage (in the same area) that’s similar or worse,” Herring said. “I don’t think ‘concern’ is the right word; there’s no urgency with the situation.”
As part of the normal day-after-launch tile inspections, astronaut Patrick Forrester used the robot arm and a boom extension to examine its wings and outer edges.
Atlantis’ crew was given an extra half- hour to sleep Saturday morning, then awoke to the song “Big Boy Toys” by Aaron Tippin.
During the 11-day flight, the astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They plan spacewalks Monday, Wednesday and Friday to install the new equipment and retract an old solar panel.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson will replace Sunita Williams as the U.S. representative aboard the space station, and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. She has spent six months in orbit.
