14 DAY TRIAL // During their first full day in orbit, the six astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour will carry out a vital inspection of the spacecraft's heat shields. This will help ensure that no damage came to it during launch and ascent, and that the orbiter is safe.
The shuttle is currently heading to the International Space Station (ISS), with docking scheduled for tomorrow. Until then, the STS-134 crew needs to carry out a number of experiments, and also to inspect the ceramic tiles that make up the shield.
Upon atmospheric reentry and descent, NASA orbiters are subjected to intense friction with air molecules. While traveling through the upper layers of the atmosphere at Mach 25+, the shuttles heat up to thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.
Any damage to the ceramic heat shield and the spacecraft could disintegrate. This was made painfully obvious by the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, back in 2003. Since then, NASA has introduced a new series of safety measures, such as a day 1 heat shield inspection.
Astronauts on Endeavour are carrying out theirs today, after waking up at 11:56 pm EDT Monday night (0356 Tuesday GMT). In order to see the orbiter's underbelly and wings, they will use a pole-like device, which is laden with cameras and video sensors.
The data will be sent back to Mission Control, where NASA engineers will analyze the photos and videos for any signs of damage. An additional inspection will be carried out as the spacecraft approaches the ISS.
At that time, it will carry out a roll maneuver, which will orient its entire heat shield towards the orbital facility. The Expedition 27 crew will then take high-resolution photos, and send them to Mission Control as well, Space reports.
This is scheduled to happen ahead of a Wednesday (May 18) docking. The two spacecraft will latch on to each other at around 6:15 am EDT (1015 GMT). Endeavour will spend a total of 16 days in space.
It launched yesterday, May 16, from the Launch Pad 39A facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida, on its final mission ever. Its main cargo is the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) particle detector, the most complex scientific experiment ever flown.
It will be affixed to the orbital lab, and made functional, during a series of four spacewalks that Endeavour's astronauts will carry out during their stay at the ISS.