NASA aims to install repaired robot arm

NASA contractor technicians are preparing to install a repaired robot arm in shuttle Discovery, the orbiter being readied for the agency's second post-Columbia mission.

The 50-foot arm, which serves as a critical construction crane for the assembly of the International Space Station, was damaged March 4 during a work place accident at Kennedy Space Center.

A bridge bucket carrying technicians from a clean-up site in the shuttle's payload bay inadvertently struck the arm. The technicians had just finished cleaning up glass shards that fell into the bay when a tile technician accidentally broke a heat lamp.

Engineers subsequently performed an ultrasound inspection on the lifting device and found a 1.25-inch crack with a depth of 0.015 inches. The arm was shipped back to its Canadian manufacturer for repairs and then returned to KSC.

Technicians opened the left- and right-hand payload bay doors on Discovery on Monday and are continuing preparations for installation work. The robot arm is scheduled to be mounted in the cargo bay on Friday.

Discovery remains scheduled for launch July 1.