Heat shield inspection under way.
Discovery's astronauts are up and at work for the first full day in space.
The key activity this morning is the lengthy inspection of the space shuttle orbiter's heat-shielding nose cap and carbon-carbon wing panels.
The work got underway early this morning and will continue throughout most of the day. Other work to be done today will focus on preparing for tomorrow's arrival and docking at the International Space Station.
Based on launch films from Tuesday's flight out of Kennedy Space Center, noone is expecting to find any serious damage. NASA documented six pieces of foam debris from the external tank during the ascent, but all came off too late in flight to hit the orbiter with enough force to do significant damage. However, that was based on the preliminary review of the films. Teams of engineers will spend days pouring over those films and those from the in-flight inspections, hunting for any dangers.
So far this morning, nothing troubling has been reported by the astronauts doing the inspections in orbit.
Stay tuned throughout the day for live updates and coverage of NASA status briefings, which are currently scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. today.
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