- Unidentified debris was floating around the shuttle and space station. Could be a piece of the shuttle. Or ice.
- On liftoff a section of protective thermal blanket peeled back.
- "Gap filler" is sticking out of a wing.
Before signing off on the landing, mission managers held an unusual, last-minute meeting to clear up three remaining technical issues. Material known as gap filler appeared to be sticking out of a wing, a thermal blanket had peeled back during the June 8 launch and debris was found floating after Atlantis undocked from the international space station on Tuesday.Engineers had wanted to make sure the gap filler could withstand the heat and aerodynamics of re-entry and recheck data on the thermal blanket. Mission managers have said the debris may have been ice.
"We were just trying to be completely thorough," said mission management team chairman John Shannon. "The engineering and safety teams believe there is no risk at all during re-entry."
Now this is what bugs me. "No risk at all during re-entry." On the contrary, bringing a space shuttle back to Earth is one of the riskiest jobs there is. Those tiles on the shuttle protect it from temperatures in excess of 2500 degrees F. To say there is no risk is laughable and irresponsible. Of course, does CNN call him on his b.s.? Can CNN even be called a news organization anymore? These are questions for other blogs.
