More good news from yesterday's launch of Shuttle Discovery.

Early inspections have revealed no damage to the space shuttle Discovery, NASA said Wednesday after a day of checking out the spacecraft with on-board cameras. That means that when the shuttle meets up with the international space station Thursday morning it likely won't need emergency repairs while hooked up with the orbital outpost - unlike last year's daring spacewalk fixes.

Discovery's delicate heat shield and everything else appear at first glance to be in near perfect shape, NASA officials said, although it's still very early in the analysis.

Engineers are nowhere near finished poring over 70 minutes of video that astronauts shot using an extended boom armed with a laser and cameras to inspect Discovery's delicate reinforced carbon wing and nosecone.

It took Discovery's crew more than six hours to get 70 minutes of video because they had to move the boom slowly so not to bump the fragile shuttle skin.

Looks like we may have a perfect mission -- although there is one humorous bit in all this.

The first video of the right wing of Discovery showed whitish splotches on the black coating. When Ceccacci saw that in Mission Control, he said he laughed. That's because three weeks earlier he had noticed the same splotches on Discovery as it sat awaiting launch. He said they looked like bird droppings from a distance of about 10 feet.

"We didn't touch anything if that's what you're asking," Ceccacci told reporters, drawing a big laugh.

Ceccacci said the imagery experts will study the splotches to be sure they're harmless. If that's what they are, "it'll burn up," during the return from space, he said. There wasn't enough heat during launch to get rid of the residue.

Well as they say -- shit happens.

Posted by: Greg at 01:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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