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Astronauts giving Discovery full post-launch inspection
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: August 29, 2009


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The Discovery astronauts faced a routine-but-busy first day in space Saturday, inspecting the shuttle's heat shield, checking out their spacesuits and readying the ship for docking Sunday with the International Space Station.


Credit: NASA TV
 
The astronauts were awakened at 2:29 p.m. EDT with a recording of "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autry, beamed up by mission control from commander Rick Sturckow's family.

"Good morning, Houston," Sturckow radioed. "It's great to be back in space and we're looking forward to a great flight day two."

The major item on the agenda is to inspect the shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing leading edge panels, which experience the most extreme heating during re-entry, to look for any signs of ascent impact damage.

Television views from a camera mounted on the side of Discovery's external tank did not show any obvious signs of significant debris from falling foam insulation or any other source, but it will take engineers several days to evaluate launch photography, laser scans today using a boom on the end of Discovery's robot arm and photographs of the shuttle's belly during final approach to the space station Sunday.

Today's inspection is "our opportunity to look at the leading edge of the wings, the RCC, the nose cap of the space shuttle and some of the area underneath for damage, in case we should have lost some foam or something else that impacted the shuttle," astronaut Patrick Forrester said in a NASA interview.

"We use the robotic arm from the shuttle, along with the boom that we have now started carrying on the starboard side of the shuttle, and basically we run through a series of automated sequences with that robotic arm. That data is recorded and sent to the ground where the folks down there will evaluate it to see if there is any damage.

"It's a very detailed process that we go through," he said. "It's a thorough process that we go through and we have a lot of confidence now that we can determine any damage that the shuttle might have. My role as the lead robotics person on the shuttle side is to kind of spearhead that, but I'll be doing it with Kevin Ford and Jose Hernandez. Over the period of flight day two (Saturday), the three of us will rotate through the roles of flying the arm, doing clearance with the boom on the shuttle and also just monitoring the monitors and the tapes and the other processes that we do."

A mission status briefing is planned for midnight. Other than a leaking steering jet, there are no technical problems of any significance aboard Discovery. Flight controllers say the lost steering jet was isolated and will have no impact on the shuttle's mission.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision E of the NASA television schedule):


EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

08/29/09
02:29 PM...00...14...30...Crew wakeup
05:00 PM...00...16...59...NC-2 rendezvous rocket firing
05:04 PM...00...17...05...Shuttle arm (SRMS) unberths OBSS
05:19 PM...00...17...20...Ergometer setup
05:19 PM...00...17...20...Laptop setup (part 2)
05:49 PM...00...17...50...Spacesuit checkout preps
06:19 PM...00...18...20...Spacesuit checkout
06:19 PM...00...18...20...OBSS starboard wing survey
08:04 PM...00...20...05...Crew meals begin
09:04 PM...00...21...05...OBSS nose cap survey
09:54 PM...00...21...55...OBSS port wing survey
11:04 PM...00...23...05...Spacesuit prepped for transfer to station
11:54 PM...00...23...55...SRMS berths OBSS

08/30
12:00 AM...01...00...01...Mission status briefing on NTV
12:34 AM...01...00...35...Heat shield laser scan downlink
01:34 AM...01...01...35...Rendezvous tools checkout
01:49 AM...01...01...50...Centerline camera setup
01:59 AM...01...02...00...NC-3 rendezvous rocket firing
02:19 AM...01...02...20...Orbiter docking system ring extension
05:29 AM...01...05...30...Crew sleep begins
06:00 AM...01...06...01...Daily highlights reel
01:29 PM...01...13...30...Crew wakeup

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: SATURDAY NIGHT'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SHUTTLE INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL ROOM PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 070 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 071 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: LIFTOFF OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: COMMANDER RICK STURCKOW BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT KEVIN FORD BOARDS SHUTTLE DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST PAT FORRESTER BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST JOSE HERNANDEZ BOARDS SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST DANNY OLIVAS BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST CHRISTER FUGLESANG BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST NICOLE STOTT BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE CREW QUARTERS BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW FINISHES GETTING SUITED UP PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED MISSION OVERVIEW MOVIE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MEET SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE "COLBERT" TREADMILL PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: MANAGERS EXPLAIN REASON FOR SECOND SCRUB PLAY
VIDEO: WEATHER SCRUBS FIRST COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DEPART QUARTERS FOR PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW GETS SUITED UP FOR LAUNCH ATTEMPT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD SERVICE GANTRY ROLLED BACK PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH RICK STURCKOW PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN FORD PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PAT FORRESTER PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH JOSE HERNANDEZ PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH DANNY OLIVAS PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTER FUGLESANG PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE STOTT PLAY

VIDEO: AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH COUNTDOWN GETS UNDERWAY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT THE CAPE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW SETS LAUNCH DATE PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-128 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER EXPLAINS FOAM ISSUES PLAY

VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MISSION CARGO LOADED ABOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: CREW TOURS PAD'S CLEANROOM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH DAY SIMULATION BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAD BUNKER TRAINING FOR THE CREW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NIGHTTIME APPROACHES IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INFORMAL CREW NEWS CONFERENCE AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ROLLS OUT PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER HOISTED FOR MATING TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY MOVED TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF DISCOVERY ARRIVING IN VAB PLAY

VIDEO: PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO PUT INTO TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STATION'S NEW AMMONIA TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MPLM HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INSIDE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE SHOP PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW EQUIPMENT INTERFACE TEST PLAY | HI-DEF
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