NASA Conducts Tests To Assess Shuttle Damage
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA conducted a swift series of tests on the ground to determine whether a disturbingly deep gouge in Endeavour’s belly needs to be fixed for re-entry as a pair of spacewalking astronauts replaced a broken space station steering device yesterday.
The gouge is relatively small — 3 1/2 inches by 2 inches — but part of it penetrates through the protective thermal tiles, leaving just a thin layer of felt material over the space shuttle’s aluminum frame to keep out the more than 2,000-degree heat of re-entry.
Mission managers expect to decide today whether astronauts should patch the gouge or whether it is benign enough for Endeavour to fly safely home. NASA has never attempted this type of repair on an orbiting shuttle, and two of the three remedies — all developed following Columbia’s catastrophic re-entry — are untested in space. As in Columbia’s case four years ago, Endeavour’s gouge resulted from a piece of foam striking the shuttle at liftoff.
Despite extensive redesigning of the shuttle fuel tank that has already cost NASA a few hundred million dollars, foam has repeatedly fallen off the tank during launch.
