Mission Extended to Fix Thermal Blanket

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.

Later in the week, everyone in mission control will hold their breath, waiting to see if the P6 solar array retracts as it should. During STS 116 last December, the solar array was quite balky, and it took several attempts by spacewalking astronauts to get it folded up and put away.

Sunday was a good day for STS 117 and the crew on the International Space Station. The approach to the space station was flawless, and the shuttle pirouetted gracefully on orbit to allow the station crew to snap photographs of the orbiter's belly for analysis.

STS 117 commander Rick Sturckow came bearing gifts for his colleagues on the space station. He gave Expedition 15 commander Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg V. Kotov crew shirts.

Astronaut Clay Anderson hitched a ride up to space on Atlantis and will be taking Suni Williams' place on the Expedition 15 crew. Williams will return home from space, having set spacewalk records, and will break astronaut Shannon Lucid's record for most time in space by an American woman. Williams will have racked up 192 days in space when Atlantis lands on June 19.