Shuttle Gap Filler Removed

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http://www.nasa.gov/124300main_GAP.asx

Following the successful removal of two protruding gap fillers from Discovery’s underside, NASA managers Wednesday continue work on a ruffled thermal blanket below the commander’s window.

They said the blanket does not pose a danger to overheating. However, engineers are performing tests overnight to determine the likelihood of the blanket coming off during descent and becoming a source of debris.

In a Wednesday afternoon briefing, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager Wayne Hale said a team of aerodynamic engineers are 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.

STS-114’s third spacewalk is now in the history books. The excursion featured the first-ever on-orbit repair of a Space Shuttle’s heat shield and attachment of a stowage platform onto the Station.

The orbital excursion began at 4:48 a.m. EDT and concluded at 10:49 a.m. EDT.

The heat shield repair efforts occurred quickly and just as planned on Space Shuttle Discovery’s underbelly. STS-114 Mission Specialist Steve Robinson removed gap fillers that were protruding from two areas between heat-shielding tiles on Discovery. Robinson gently tugged the gap fillers until they came out.

After he removed the second protrusion, Robinson declared, "It looks like this big patient is cured."

Robinson also took pictures of Discovery’s heat shield before leaving the area and returning to the payload bay.

Even though only one spacewalker was able to work on the underside of Discovery, the repair efforts required teamwork. Fellow spacewalker Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi provided communications and visual support to Robinson and flight controllers. Mission Specialist Andy Thomas was the spacewalk coordinator. Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence were the spacewalk’s Station robot arm operators.

The first task of the spacewalk was the installation of the External Stowage Platform-2 (ESP-2) by Robinson and fellow spacewalker Soichi Noguchi. They were assisted by the Station’s robotic arm. Then, Noguchi installed a materials exposure experiment on the Station's exterior.

In other activities, Mission Control asked the STS-114 crew to use the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect insulation blankets under the commander’s window on Discovery. Cargo stowage continued on the Space Station.