Houston – Atlantis astronauts most likely will use a sewing kit normally reserved for space suits to repair a peeled-back thermal blanket near the spacecraft’s tail, NASA said Tuesday.
No final decision had been made on when the repair of the 4-by-6-inch area would be made.
Engineers also have looked at using duct tape to secure the blanket, which peeled during launch last week. They are leaning, however, toward a method that would use stainless-steel wire as thread and an instrument resembling a small darning needle.
“Duct tape doesn’t work in the vacuum of space,” said NASA manager John Shannon.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
PITTSBURGH
Five kids killed in fire caused by match play
Fire raced through a three-story row house early Tuesday, killing five children. The blaze was caused by the youngsters playing with matches, authorities said.
Police said they were trying to determine whether the children were alone or in the care of a teenage babysitter.
Two 8-year-old children escaped without injury. On the street outside, those two boys were begging for someone to help their brothers and sisters, neighbor Sontaya Perry said. One told her he was sleeping when the fire began.
Flames were shooting from all three floors when firefighters arrived, officials said. The children, who ranged in age from 3 to 7, were found on the second floor, where the fire apparently started, authorities said.
One smoke detector was found on the second floor, but it was not working, police said.
BOSTON
Weapon fragment shows whale over 100
A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt – more than a century ago.
Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated at between 115 and 130 years. It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890.
Calculating a whale’s age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses.
It’s rare to find one that has lived more than a century.
ALBUQUERQUE
Army apologizes for tattoo inspection
A top Army investigator has apologized to New Mexico National Guard soldiers who were ordered to strip to their shorts and were searched for gang tattoos while on duty in Kuwait.
No such tattoos were found on the 58 members of Task Force Cobra, made up of soldiers from units around New Mexico.
Task force members and the commander of the state National Guard have alleged the unit was targeted because of its large number of Latino soldiers.
In a letter, Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson apologized “for the manner in which this investigation was conducted and the loss of trust that has resulted.”
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Alleged head of group tied to Bali attack held
Indonesian police have arrested the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and a series of other attacks in recent years, a spokesman said today.
Abu Dujana, an Afghan-trained militant fluent in Arabic, was detained Saturday along with seven other suspected terrorists in raids on the country’s main island of Java, said police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto.
