A senior NASA manager reiterated today that the damaged tile, located near the right main landing gear door, is not a great concern.
"This is one that we feel pretty confident that we’re going to be able to clear once we get some higher fidelity data," said LeRoy Cain, the deputy shuttle program manager and head of the mission management team.
Cain said the additional data would provide a better three-dimensional picture of the gouge in the tile and improve models that will determine whether heat during atmospheric re-entry could pose a threat.
The roughly two-hour inspection will begin around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Endeavour pilot Greg Johnson will be responsible for scanning the tile with a boom equipped with cameras and laser sensors, but the process is largely automated. Mission specialists Mike Fincke and Robterto Vittori will assist.
A determination on the tile's integrity is expected within 24 hours of the focused inspection. It's the fifth time such an inspection will be performed since the shuttle returned to flight after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
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TWO YEARS AGO I've suggested this solution for the ET foam issue:
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http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/050savethecrew.html
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I want to give a shout-out to the wonderful Endeavor crew and salute you for possibly escaping this "rapture" end of the world that is supposed to happen tomorrow, May 21st. Since you're floating around way up there and not physically on earth, you've really chosen the perfect mission to escape the craziness!
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