Discovery mission commander Pam Melroy just used a pair of binoculars to check out the torn solar blanket, and she says it doesn't appear as if the repair work will be an easy fix.
Hinge wires are snarled up with guidewires and a grommet, and it looks as if Scott Parazynski will have to cut the snarls near both a large tear and a smaller one in addition to stitching up the ripped blanket.
"It looks to me both hinge wires, the guide wire and the grommet are all snarled up. In fact, I had kind of a back-shadow of it on the panel and I could actually see the little fur ball outlined in shadow," Melroy said.
"Well, that sounds like we have to do the whole enchilada for the repair, huh?" Parazynski replied.
"It doesn't look like an easy, just-rattle-it-and-shake-loose-the-grommet kind of situation," Melroy said.
Said Parazynski: "We kind of expected that anyway, but yeah, that's too bad."
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