HOUSTON -- Astronauts
aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour are prepared to repair a small gouge in
their orbiter's tile-covered belly if required, but are confident the damage
poses little risk to their safe return to Earth next week.
"It's
not really a safety issue for us on board," shuttle commander Scott Kelly
told reporters Tuesday in a series of interviews
on NASA TV, adding that the chief concern is whether the damage could require
a lengthy shuttle repair once Endeavour returns home.
Speaking
from NASA's Destiny laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS),
the spaceflyers -- including teacher-turned-astronaut
Barbara Morgan -- said they were confident that ongoing analysis by engineers
will chart the proper course to address Endeavour's dinged tiles.
NASA
mission managers are expected to decide Wednesday whether to send spacewalkers underneath
Endeavour to fill in the 3 1/2-inch by 2-inch (9-centimeter by 5-centimeter) divot
in the black, heat-resistant tiles lining its belly. The gouge, caused by a
baseball-sized piece of fuel
tank debris about a minute after Endeavour's Aug. 8 launch, penetrated
through a 1.12-inch (2.8-centimeter) thick tile to expose a slim section of heat-resistant
felt covering the orbiter's aluminum skin.
In the
crew's morning mail from Mission Control, flight controllers said that, if any
repair is required, it would include coating the damaged tile with a black,
heat-resistant paint and a goo-like ablative material. Such a fix, developed
after the 2003 Columbia accident, would also call for two spacewalkers to ride
Endeavour's 100-foot (30-meter) robotic arm and inspection boom to reach the
damage site.
Kelly added
that he and his six STS-118 crewmates have been focused on their
14-day mission to deliver cargo, spare parts and a new starboard side truss
segment to the ISS. They spent much of Tuesday installing a new spare parts
platform at the orbital laboratory.
"We've
been really busy, we haven't had a lot of time to focus on it," Kelly
said. "There's not a whole lot of concern about it on board right
now."
Kelly added
that astronauts aboard Endeavour and the ISS hoped to pause in their work for a
short celebration of Caldwell's birthday, and plan to improvise a
"cake" for the occasion out of a brownie.
Mission
Control awoke Endeavour's crew early Tuesday with a rendition of "Happy
Birthday, Tracy" performed by Caldwell's nieces and nephews. But aside
from some knick-knacks, cards and well wishes, Caldwell said her space birthday
was a busy one.
"Actually,
I got a timeline with a whole list of tasks to do," Caldwell said with a
smile of her present from Mission Control.
'Worth
the wait'
Meanwhile,
Morgan has adapted to life in space after a 22-year journey that began in 1985,
when NASA selected her as the backup for New Hampshire high school teacher
Christa McAuliffe during the agency's Teacher in Space program.
"I
think I can speak for all of us to say it's definitely worth it," Morgan
said the years-long training for herself and her crewmates. "We're
enjoying the work very much. It's hard, it's challenging and it's a lot of fun."
A former
schoolteacher from McCall, Idaho, Morgan trained alongside McAuliffe and the
space shuttle Challenger crew before their ill-fated
launch in January 1986. She returned to NASA in 1998 as a career astronaut and
will speak to students at the Discovery Center of Idaho in Boise, later today.
"I've
thought about Christa and the Challenger crew just about every day,"
Morgan said. "I hope they know that they're in our hearts."
So far, the
most surprising thing about spaceflight has been how things drift away, Morgan
said, adding that Endeavour's launch was much louder than she expected and that
working in weightlessness is a joy.
"Especially
after about three or four days on orbit, the floating is fantastic,"
Morgan said. "It's something you get used to and have a lot of fun
with."
Morgan
added that she and her family are not overly concerned about the Endeavour's
gouged tile.
"My
family has a lot of faith in the program, and they know it's important,"
Morgan said of her husband Clay and their two sons. "And we know everything
is going to work out just fine."
NASA is
broadcasting Endeavour's STS-118 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for mission updates and
SPACE.com's NASA TV feed.
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