Engineers Find Hole in Space Shuttle

Oct. 6, 2006 — -- Engineers examining the Space Shuttle Atlantis after it landed have found something that stopped them in their tracks: a small hole in the radiator on one of the shuttle's payload bay doors.

The radiator is about an inch thick, and there is a space of about nine inches between the payload bay door and the radiator.

It's not a big hole -- it's about one-tenth of an inch at entry and three-hundredths of an inch at exit -- but it's big enough to be seen without a flashlight.

It's larger than most dings seen before, and that's what's caught everyone's attention.

Any hole in a space shuttle is bad news, but this did not go all the way through the payload bay door, so the shuttle wasn't in danger of having the penetrating heat of re-entry seep into the shuttle's interior.

This is the second most damaging hit to an orbiter.

The previous record was held by a small hole in the thermal blanket discovered after STS 73, a Columbia mission that flew in 1995.

Columbia's crew of seven died in 2003, because of a hole in the shuttle's wing.

A 1.67-pound piece of foam broke off the external tank and smashed into Columbia's left wing almost 82 seconds after the launch.

It created a crack or hole that allowed superhot gases to penetrate the wing as the shuttle re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

This hole in Atlantis should be easy to repair.

First, though, engineers want to know what caused the hole.

Was it a piece of shuttle debris -- a couple of bolts did float away during the mission -- or did a micrometeorite slam into the shuttle as it orbited Earth?

They have applied tape to the hole and will run tests to see whether they can find any residue that will give them answers.

The next shuttle to launch will be Discovery on STS 116, and for the first time in four years a shuttle will launch at night.

Shuttle program managers have decided a night launch does not increase the risk to a crew because of improved inspection capability and imaging.

The target launch is Dec. 7 around 9:38 p.m. ET.