The space shuttle Atlantis suffered minor damage to its heat shield during its May 11 launch. NASA does not consider the damage to be serious.
Shuttle’s Heat Shield Dings Appear to be Minor, NASA Says
Space.com
Astronauts discovered a trail of small dings in the vital heat shield of their space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday, but NASA said the damage appears only minor and is not expected to be a concern.
The dings were caused by launch debris that fell from the shuttle’s external tank as Atlantis rocketed toward the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday afternoon. Astronauts spotted the damage while scanning Atlantis with an inspection pole tipped with cameras and laser sensors.
LeRoy Cain, NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager, said that even though the damage to Atlantis appears minor, a crack team of image analysis experts is hard at work evaluating the pictures beamed to Earth by shuttle astronauts during an in-depth inspection today.
“This is not something that we’re very concerned about but we want the team to do our normal assessment and evaluation of it,” Cain told reporters here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “And we’ll do that overnight tonight.”
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