CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The crew of Discovery
began their first full day in space Wednesday preparing for one of the most
comprehensive in-flight inspections of any shuttle flight.
Hurtling toward a Thursday
rendezvous with the international space station, the shuttle's astronauts began
deploying a boom they would use to inspect Discovery for any damage from debris
shed by the external fuel tank during liftoff.
Live video of the
Independence Day launch showed some small chunks of debris falling from the
tank, but shuttle managers said they weren't worried.
The astronauts were taking
more images of the shuttle's wings and nose cap on Wednesday using laser,
digital and video cameras attached to a 50-foot boom. The new inspection
techniques, implemented after the Columbia disaster, can spot damage as small as an eighth of an inch.
"We saw nothing that
gives us any kind of concern about the health of the crew or the vehicle,''
said Wayne Hale, shuttle program manager.
The seven-member Discovery
crew awoke early Wednesday to sounds of "Lift Every Voice and Sing,''
sometimes referred to as the black national anthem.
"That one is
particularly dear to my heart because ... after the day of our nation's
independence, it's very fitting because it reminds us that anyone and everyone
can participate in the space program,'' astronaut Stephanie Wilson, only the
second black woman in space, radio to Mission Control.
Astronaut Mike Fossum sent
Mission Control in Houston video showing him, pilot Mark Kelly
and specialist Lisa Nowak in the flight deck during Tuesday's launch.
First-time fliers Nowak and
Fossum gave each other a gloved congratulatory handshake and thumbs up during
the ascent. Once in orbit, Nowak, serving as flight engineer, took notes while Fossum
and specialist Stephanie Wilson unstrapped themselves to photograph the
external fuel tank as it fell away from the shuttle.
The Day 2 inspections,
expected to take about 6 1/2 hours, were ordered after a chunk of hard
insulating foam from the external fuel tank struck Columbia on lift off in 2003 and damaged its
wing, allowing fiery gases to enter the spacecraft during reentry. All seven
astronauts were killed as the shuttle broke up over Texas.
Shuttle managers said early
video images of Discovery's liftoff showing small pieces of foam breaking away --
and one striking the spacecraft -- were not troubling.
About three minutes after
liftoff, as many as five pieces of debris were seen flying off the tank, and
another piece of foam popped off a bit later, Mission Control told the crew.
The latter piece struck the belly of Discovery, but NASA assured the seven
astronauts it was no concern because of the timing.
Hale said Discovery was so
high when the pieces came off that there wasn't enough air to accelerate the
foam into the shuttle and cause damage.
The astronauts reported
seeing what they described as a large piece of cloth tumbling away from
Discovery soon after reaching orbit. It looked like one of the thermal blankets
that protects the shuttle, they said, but Mission Control told them it was
likely ice and that a similar observation was made during Discovery's flight a
year ago.
The mission for Discovery's
crew is to test shuttle-inspection techniques, deliver supplies to the
international space station and drop off European Space Agency astronaut Thomas
Reiter for a six-month stay. Astronauts Piers Sellers and Fossum plan to
conduct two spacewalks, and possibly a third one, which would extend the
mission by a day.
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