Another heat shield inspection will take up the remainder of the Atlantis crew's day, which began with release of the Hubble Space Telescope this morning. The orbiter's wing leading edges, nose cap and belly tiles were previously cleared of damage that could have occurred during a May 11 launch from Kennedy Space Center.
But as part of standard procedures instituted after the loss of Columbia in 2003, a "late" inspection follows that earlier one to make sure micrometeoroids or orbital debris haven't struck the spaceship. The process officially began at 1:18 p.m., starting with 22 reinforced carbon carbon panels covering the right wing leading edge. It will move on to the nose cap and then left wing leading edge.
The shuttle's 50-foot extension boom is equipped with cameras and laser sensors. Scans of the shields will be downlinked almost in real time to analysts on the ground in Houston who will scour them for evidence of damage.
Managers should know Wednesday if Atlantis will be cleared for re-entry through Earth's atmosphere Friday morning, or if any possible damage needs a closer look and potentially a repair.
In the unlikely event that major, irreparable damage is discovered, Endeavour is still standing by as a rescue ship on launch pad 39B at KSC.
Atlantis' planned 11-day mission is currently scheduled to end with a 10:03 a.m. Friday landing at the Florida spaceport.
The mission can be extended up to two days if weather interferes with landing opportunities.
As the crew begins its heat shield inspections, it is also raising the crew cabin's air pressure back up to sea level, or 14.7 pounds per square inch.
The pressure was lowered to 10.2 psi before five spacewalks began last Thursday. That significantly reduced the time spacewalkers needed to breathe pure oxygen before they exited the shuttle airlock. The pre-breathe procedure purges nitrogen from their systems to prevent decompression sickness.
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