Space shuttle Discovery escaped damage from the potentially deadly chunk of foam that broke off from the fuel tank during liftoff, but may have been struck in the wing by a much smaller piece, NASA said Thursday.
Even if the small foam fragment did hit, engineers believe the impact caused no damage of concern, said deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
"This is the closest to a potential hit that we have out of all the data we've got," Hale said at an evening press conference. That's why it generated "a great deal of interest," he added.
Despite the latest development, officials said Discovery still looks safe to fly home in a week, but stressed it will be another few days before the space agency can conclusively give the shuttle a clean bill of health.
The mostly welcome news came after Mission Control received stunningly detailed photographs of Discovery taken by the crew aboard the international space station. The shuttle executed an unprecedented backflip to bare its belly to the cameras before docking with the space station.
NASA wanted to make sure Discovery did not suffer the kind of mortal wound that brought down Columbia in 2003.
"Everything we know at this point in time, I don't see anything that would keep us from being able to re-enter," said Steve Poulos, manager of the orbiter project office.
I put these reassurances right up there with "the radiation leak is contained", "there will be no layoffs", and "Of course you'll be able to afford the payments."
I know that there's going to be a whole bunch of praying going on when that bird comes back down.
Fuckers. They put these astronauts' lives at risk without fixing the problems that destroyed the last ones.
I'm old enough to remember John Glenn's adventures in space, the first space walks, the first moon landing. When on earth did NASA turn into General Motors?
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