Mission Extended to Fix Thermal Blanket

Mission lengthened two days and fourth spacewalk planned to make repair.

ByABC News
January 8, 2009, 12:13 AM

June 11, 2007 — -- to NASA extended the mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis by two days and added an additional spacewalk for the crew to repair the thermal blanket near the Shuttle's tail.

A fourth spacewalk was added to the astronauts' mission so the crew can try to fix the bunched up thermal blanket on the space shuttle's orbital maneuvering system.

John Shannon heads the mission management team, which oversees all the issues that come up during a space shuttle mission. The major concern confronting the team now is the wrinkled blanket.

Shannon says he doesn't believe the blanket poses a threat to the safety of the crew or the orbiter, but asked flight director Cathy Koerner to use the two contingency days built into the mission and add a fourth spacewalk to address the problem. "We've seen shuttles with much worse damage in this area that have returned safely."

Analysts noted that seven earlier flights, STS 1, 3, 9, 41B, 41C, 51B and 95, all landed safely with damage in the orbital maneuvering system pod area damage that had to be fixed on the ground.

The concern, Shannon says, is maintenance. NASA would like to fly four shuttle flights this year.

Atlantis is designated to fly the STS 120 mission, which is scheduled to launch in October. If the orbiter flies home with the thermal blanket as is, the aerodynamic loads could rip through and damage the structure underneath.

Normal heating on the orbital maneuvering system pod is 700 to 1,000 degrees, but because the blanket is bunched up, the airflow will push more heat into the area. Engineers are trying to figure out just how hot it will get in that area.

Space station construction takes precedence today. Astronauts Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas will connect the power cables, and release launch restraints on the new truss and solar array being installed on the space station, which will give the outpost the power it needs for future expansion next year.