Live in Orbit: Shuttle Gets Final Inspection

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Blogger update, 5:18 p.m.: Endeavour's crew has finished inspecting the orbiter's port wing, and will now return the boom sensor system back to the payload bay. A third and final separation thruster burn is expected within the next two hours.

Blogger update, 3:50 p.m.: Endeavour's heat shield inspection is in its final phase, scanning the port wing's leading edge. The survey is expected to finish about an hour ahead of schedule.

Blogger update, 2:37 p.m.: The inspection of Endeavour's starboard wing leading edge is complete. A look at the shuttle's nose cap is next.

Seven Endeavour astronauts have begun a final inspection of heat shields covering the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edges.

They want to be sure the reinforced carbon-carbon panels are in good condition to withstand temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere Sunday.

Repeating the inspection completed a day after Endeavour's Nov. 14 launch, the crew will use the shuttle's robotic arm and a 50-foot boom extension to scan the starboard wing (shown at left shortly after the inspection began), nose cap and then port wing with laser sensors.

Images will be downloaded to the ground for analysis before Endeavour receives final clearance to land at KSC at 1:19 p.m. Sunday.

The mission's earlier inspection found no signs of damage from debris during launch, and NASA officials determined there was no need to conduct more in-depth examinations.

But the today's survey is designed to detect damage from micrometeoroids or other orbiting debris that could have struck while the shuttle was docked to the International Space Station, circling Earth at 17,500 mph.

It was just that sort of collision that NASA sought to avoid today after undocking from the station, by delaying a third and final separation thruster burn that could have put it in proximity to pieces of an old Russian satellite.

Endeavour's crew did find a ding in one of Endeavour's outer window panels earlier in the mission, but NASA believes it poses no risk during re-entry.

IMAGE NOTE: Three images show Endeavour's starboard wing as it is scanned with laser sensors at the end of the shuttle's robotic arm boom extension. Click them twice to fully enlarge them.