14 DAY TRIAL // According to NASA's Mission Control, the space shuttle Discovery has been authorized for atmospheric reentry yesterday, after the results of the final heat shield inspection, carried on Thursday, came back negative. According to engineers at the American space agency, there is little to no risk to the spacecraft from the huge temperatures that will form as it enters Earth's atmosphere, when air friction will place huge strain on the tiles making up the shield.
Scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 1:39 pm EDT (1739 GMT) today, the shuttle underwent numerous and scrupulous verifications of its heat shield throughout the mission, with the first one performed even before it docked at the International space station, last week. The second one was performed while the craft was attached to the orbital facility, as crew members worked at deploying the last array of American-built solar panels.
The third and final check was conducted two days ago, after Discovery undocked from the ISS on Wednesday. After having spent some free time together, the 10-astronaut crew aboard the two vessels separated, with the 7 people aboard the Discovery taking the first pictures of the completed International Space Station. The last check revealed no inconsistencies in the disposition of the tiles, and showed that no damage had come to the shield while Discovery maneuvered itself and the ISS out of the way of space debris, early this week.
After more than four months, NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus is being ferried back home, after she learned a trick or two while aboard the space laboratory. She was replaced by JAXA flight engineer Koichi Wakata, who will be conducting a series of scientific experiments on the station for the next four months. In addition to Magnus, the astronauts also bring home a sealed box that may contain a spider that has lived in weightlessness for many months.
“That is great news. We appreciate you passing that along,” radioed back to Mission Control Discovery commander Lee Archambault, after learning that the inspection proved the shields to be OK. All is set for this afternoon's reentry, which will also give engineers more insight into how air flows around the ship. For more details, stay tuned.