Live in Orbit: Discovery Inspection Complete

Shuttle Discovery's astronauts completed a day-long inspection of protective heat shields a little after 8 p.m., and the seven-person crew is turning its attention to Tuesday's docking with the International Space Station.

Mission managers say Discovery appears to be in excellent condition after preliminary reviews of its launch Sunday and climb to orbit.

"We have no major problems of note from the launch or from the ascent," said LeRoy Cain, deputy shuttle program manager.

Discovery's crew used a 50-foot boom equipped with lasers and a TV camera, shown at left, to survey the orbiter's reinforced carbon nose cap and wing leading edges. The boom was stowed in the shuttle's payload bay by 8:45 p.m.

Analysts on the ground will analyze the day's images for any signs of damage to heat the surfaces that protect the shuttle from heat reaching 3,000 degrees during re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.

A decision about whether to conduct a "focused" inspection on flight day six - if potential damage is seen - is expected by Wednesday. If that isn't necessary, a new set of solar arrays could be deployed that day.

This interactive graphic created by Florida Today's Dennis Lowe shows how the inspection process works.

So far, engineers are troubleshooting only minor issues, including a repair to a jammed exercise bike on the shuttle.

Exercise is important in microgravity to maintain circulation and bone density and limit muscle atrophy.

"It's important to get exercise while you're in space, because your muscles aren't working the way they normally do just to keep you upright and moving around as you do on the Earth," said Paul Dye, the mission's lead shuttle flight director.

Alternative exercise options using bungee cords are available, or the shuttle crew could take turns on space station gear, which includes an advanced weight training device that Endeavour delivered last November.

Earlier, NASA managers decided the space station did not need to maneuver out of the way of a piece of space junk that appeared to be speeding toward the station.

Updated tracking models indicated the chance of a strike were less than 1 in 100,000, outside the zone of concern.

To generate concern, debris must be headed into an imaginary box around the station measuring roughly one mile by 15 miles by 15 miles, Dye said.

Overall, based on the few reported anomalies and positive launch imagery, Dye said Discovery looks "really clean."

"All that tells you is that the folks at the Cape and the engineering community have put together a tremendously clean bird," he said. "It's flying extremely well."

In addition to today's inspections, crew members - primarily spacewalkers Steve Swanson and Ricky Arnold - checked out two spacesuits that will be worn during three planned spacewalks.

If you're interested in learning more about those spacesuits, check out this NASA Spacesuits and Spacewalks page designed for use by educators. It features Discovery astronauts Joe Acaba and Arnold, who are both former teachers.

Soon to come are checks of the centerline camera that will aid Tuesday afternoon's docking procedure, and of the shuttle's docking ring extension.

The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 1:43 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

IMAGE NOTE: Click the images to enlarge them. They're screen grabs from NASA TV of today's inspection of Discovery's thermal protection system.