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  • WEDNESDAY JULY 5 2006 10:00 PM

Shuttle Safely in Orbit And Set to Dock With ISS on Thursday

Submitted by WilWheaton

Edited by WilWheaton

Tags: NASA, Space Shuttle, Discovery

The space shuttle Discovery safely reached orbit shortly after lift off yesterday afternoon, and is on its way to dock with the international space station on Thursday, presumably to see the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws.[1]

This was NASA's second flight since the Columbia disaster over Texas in 2003, when the orbiter disintegrated during reentry, as a result of damage incurred during liftoff. Today, shuttle astronauts spent some time examining the orbiter's exterior, especially areas that were hit with falling foam similar to that which lead to the Columbia disaster, and returned with the cosmic signal for everything's okay, by waving a sombrero at a passing communications satellite.

Early inspections revealed no major damage to the space shuttle Discovery, NASA said Wednesday after a day of checking out the spacecraft with on-board cameras. That means that when the shuttle meets up with the international space station Thursday morning it likely won't need emergency repairs while hooked up with the orbital outpost -- unlike last year's daring spacewalk fixes.

NASA says that the damage and issues which impacted (sorry) Columbia are not cause for concern on Discovery.

Wednesday's inspection by the astronauts uncovered a thermal tile filler poking about a half-inch out of the belly of Discovery. [Deputy shuttle program manager John] Shannon said better data should be available Thursday but for now, engineers do not believe the dangling fabric will pose a danger for re-entry or require spacewalking repairs, as it did last summer when two similar strips had to be removed in orbit.

This so-called gap filler dates back to 1982 and is in an area where the thermal tiles are fairly thick, Shannon said. Additional gap fillers might be loose as well and may be spotted by the space station crew when the shuttle closes in for docking, he said.

So why, if the shuttle is so seemingly vulnerable to chunks of deadly foam and at the mercy of unreliable gap filler, is NASA still flying them? According the the Christian Science Monitor, you go into space with the vehicles you've got, not the vehicles you want -- especially where the international space station is concerned.

When the space shuttle Discovery docks with the International Space Station Thursday, some of the loudest cheers will be overseas.

That's because the shuttle is the only vehicle able to deliver key components of the station over the next four years. Its success will determine whether the station becomes a fully functional international laboratory - or a useless, partially built curiosity circling Earth. It may also determine whether the United States remains a player in future international efforts in manned spaceflight.

Though the shuttle remains the most advanced spacecraft at the moment, the program is so incredibly expensive that NASA is considering grounding the fleet and replacing the shuttle orbiters with vehicles much similar to the "capsule atop the giant rocket" that the space agency originally used with the Gemini and Apollo missions.

It won't happen any time soon, though. The ISS is specifically designed to work with the shuttle, and at least seventeen more missions are needed to complete the space station. And if the ISS isn't completed, we may never know the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws.

[1] Actually, it's to deliver about 2.5 tons of freight, but I couldn't find any Simpsons references that incorporated the space shuttle and 2.5 tons of freight.

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Comments
Andvari

Andvari

Calgary, AB
April 2005

JUL 05, 2006 10:20 PM

I heard the bird shit survived as well.

WilWheaton

WilWheaton

Los Angeles, CA
June 2005

JUL 05, 2006 10:28 PM

Andvari said:
I heard the bird shit survived as well.


Yeah, that bird shit is hilarious, but I cut it from the story because it was dangerously close to getting silly.

PhLaXuS

PhLaXuS

Fort Lauderdale, FL
November 2005

JUL 05, 2006 10:50 PM

Did anyone else read that like a porno:

liftoff
dock
weightlessness
screws
hooked-up
dangling

OK -- it's almost 2:00 in thr morning. I blame that. Uh huh...

curtisology

curtisology

USA
April 2006

JUL 06, 2006 12:29 AM

I imagine Peter Stormare as Lev Andropov, Russian Cosmonaut greeting the shuttle from the ISS window...

glennnnnnnn

glennnnnnnn

Australia
January 2006

JUL 06, 2006 01:48 AM

Its make or break for the shuttle from here on in as stated by Mike Griffin the NASA administrator himself. Any major incident will undoubtably criple the program once and for all. frown
Here's hoping for a few more years of successful launches and I for one hope to make it over to the US east coast to see a launch with my own eyes sooner rather than later!

CitizenD

CitizenD

Australia
April 2006

JUL 06, 2006 04:13 AM

Need
Another
Seven
Astrnauts

(Going to feel like a right keyunt now if anything bad happens.)

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

JUL 06, 2006 08:39 AM

curtisdead said:
I imagine Peter Stormare as Lev Andropov, Russian Cosmonaut greeting the shuttle from the ISS window...



Bruce Willis and Ben Assflakes sucked in that movie. But Stormare?
Acting gold.

V-Dub is ready to un-pimp your shuttle wink

ASSH0LE

ASSH0LE

Las Vegas, NV
June 2003

JUL 06, 2006 06:51 PM

WilWheaton said:
Today, shuttle astronauts spent some time examining the orbiter's exterior, especially areas that were hit with falling foam similar to that which lead to the Columbia disaster, and returned with the cosmic signal for everything's okay, by waving a sombrero at a passing communications satellite.



Damned illegal aliens are taking all the jobs at NASA! Build a wall, all the way up to space! I mean right now it's the Mexicans, next it'll be Martians or those damned Andorans with their creepy eyes that watch you behind their backs!

yurei

yurei

USA
June 2006

JUL 07, 2006 04:52 PM

The United States is 8.2 trillion dollars in debt and this is what we have to show for it? An airplane attached to rockets with bird shit on it that works most of the time! It's the 21st century, right? Where are the talking houses, hooker-bots, flying cars, and cuboid watermelons? oh wait...

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

JUL 07, 2006 05:03 PM

YUREI said:
The United States is 8.2 trillion dollars in debt and this is what we have to show for it? An airplane attached to rockets with bird shit on it that works most of the time! It's the 21st century, right? Where are the talking houses, hooker-bots, flying cars, and cuboid watermelons? oh wait...



Distribution of resources. We greatly accelerated the conclusion of the cold war by wasting all of our potential on more bullshit than our enemies could.

Edit: It took the Japanese to make the watermelon cube.

PhLaXuS

PhLaXuS

Fort Lauderdale, FL
November 2005

JUL 07, 2006 07:55 PM

Mmmmmm....HookerBots.

Al

Al

SUICIDEGIRL

Christmas Island

JUL 07, 2006 08:05 PM

Hey, remember that movie where they sent a bunch of hole drillers up into space to drill a big hole in an asteroid and put a bomb in it to save the Earth? And they like totally crashed the shuttles onto the asteroid? But then they also totally took off again in the one shuttle and made it through re-entry no problem? Yeah, I knew it totally would have exploded instead. I'm so smrt.

Don't mind me.

SockPuppet

SockPuppet

I'm lost
July 2006

JUL 10, 2006 05:41 PM

WilWheaton said:
The space shuttle Discovery safely reached orbit shortly after lift off yesterday afternoon, and is on its way to dock with the international space station on Thursday, presumably to see the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws.[1]


[1] Actually, it's to deliver about 2.5 tons of freight, but I couldn't find any Simpsons references that incorporated the space shuttle and 2.5 tons of freight.



Seems like you'd rather sneer than actually report. That seems sad; especially if it's the only way to get attention.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
To the story.



Princelogos

Princelogos

USA
November 2005

JUL 12, 2006 10:14 PM

The space shuttle was as I read above a trump card in the Starwars (propaganda )program. It's existance intended to prove that we had shit going on that needed a shuttle;..arming killer lasers and nukes and all like that. It worked, it was the final note played in the space-domanence race.
I think the whole area around this planet should be devoid of all flying-orbiting objects. Eventually that stuff will start to cascade all over the planet.
How much do you love your cell phone? Enough to get smacked with falling debris from a tetecom satelite?

OctoberSeven

OctoberSeven

Downers Grove, IL
December 2002

JUL 13, 2006 06:44 AM

Princelogos said:
The space shuttle was as I read above a trump card in the Starwars (propaganda )program. It's existance intended to prove that we had shit going on that needed a shuttle;..arming killer lasers and nukes and all like that. It worked, it was the final note played in the space-domanence race.
I think the whole area around this planet should be devoid of all flying-orbiting objects. Eventually that stuff will start to cascade all over the planet.
How much do you love your cell phone? Enough to get smacked with falling debris from a tetecom satelite?



In order for stuff in orbit to suddenly start dropping out of orbit there would have to be a problem with the Earth's gravitation, in which case falling debris from space is really the least of our concerns.

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