Friday, August 10, 2007

Flight Day 3 - Imagery Inspection

I'm currently in Houston and will be supporting on-orbit imagery inspection this afternoon. The Expedition 15 crew onboard the ISS will be taking images of Endeavour's Thermal Protection System (TPS); tiles, blankets, gapfillers, and RCC. There are Regions Of Interest that we will be focusing on during the inspection:

"One OMS Pod is noted to have a blanket pulled back with some slight protrusion. Although the wording is similar to that noted for Atlantis' OMS Pod blanket issue during STS-117 - which required a spacewalk to pin back into place - Endeavour's OMS Pod blanket protrusion is not as 'obvious' to the naked eye, and is unlikely to require any action at this stage.

The other ROI relates to the adjacent OMS Pod, which is deemed to have a protruding gap filler. Both Pods will receive further evaluation before - and after - the upcoming RPM.

Other ROIs already noted include the need for more imagery of horsecollar gap fillers on the lower starboard panel and on the starboard RCC panel (number 22)."


We'll be able to view these areas once the ISS crew downlinks the images to us. Endeavour is expected to dock with the International Space Station at 1:53pm.

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