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Initial survey ends; more inspections ordered BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: September 20, 2006 An impromptu robot arm inspection of the shuttle Atlantis early today revealed no obvious problems with the ship's critical heat shield, but mission managers ordered additional inspections with a long sensor boom to make absolutely sure. The initial inspection, using a camera on the end of the shuttle's robot arm to look for signs of damage that might be associated with an unusual object that apparently floated away from the shuttle Tuesday, took four-and-a-half hours to complete. While the astronauts took a lunch break, NASA managers assessed downlinked video and ultimately decided to press ahead with a second round of inspections, this one using a 50-foot-long sensor boom attached to the end of the arm. The boom is a post-Columbia upgrade designed to provide close-up laser scans and high-resolution photography of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels to look for signs of post-launch impact damage. For today's survey, the boom will be used to inspect areas that can't be seen well with the robot arm, which is mounted on the left side of the shuttle's cargo bay, starting with the right wing's leading edge panels, the right side of the shuttle's nose cap, the left side of the nose, then the underside of large steering elevons at the back of both wings. New hardware was installed in the elevon areas before launch and engineers want to make sure those systems are sound. The boom also will be used to inspect both sides of the rudder/speedbrake on the shuttle's tail fin. Time needed to unberth the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, carry out the additional inspections and re-berth the boom will add about three hours to the overall inspection procedure. NASA managers said Tuesday an OBSS inspection could extend the crew's day and push landing to Friday. But as of this writing, no final decisions have been made on when Atlantis will be cleared for entry. Engineers still don't know what might have floated away from Atlantis Tuesday, prompting an initial 24-hour landing delay from Wednesday to Thursday. The first object in question was seen flying below the shuttle shortly after pre-landing tests of the shuttle's re-entry systems. Engineers speculated that whatever it was, the object got shaken off during the tests, which generated a fair amount of vibration. One possible candidate was a plastic shim spotted earlier in the flight extending up from between two tiles on the shuttle's belly. But during today's inspection, the shim apparently was still in place, engineers said. A second piece of debris spotted by the astronauts shortly after noon Tuesday remains a mystery as well. Assuming the OBSS inspection goes smoothly, no problems are found and the crew gets done in time, NASA managers could opt to press ahead with plans to bring Atlantis back to Earth on Thursday. In that case, commander Brent Jett and pilot Chris Ferguson would fire Atlantis' twin braking rockets around 5:19 a.m. Thursday for a day-late touchdown around 6:21 a.m. at the Kennedy Space Center. But if today's OBSS inspection keeps the crew up late, NASA managers may opt to "give them another day on orbit to rest up before the critical entry phase" to make sure "we have a well rested and prepare crew to fly the critical phases of entry," said shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale. "We don't want to do that with folks who are tired or overly concerned about anything." Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday if absolutely necessary. Good weather is expected Thursday and Friday at the Kennedy Space Center.
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MID-DAY BRIEFING BY SHUTTLE CHIEF 