Originally posted by lost_shaman
Originally posted by classified material
They're delaying the return of the shuttle because of a tine peice of debris that came off of the shuttle? They said it's moving away from the
shuttle at 2 feet per second. I would think they could go around it. But cancel a return because of a tiny peice of debris? Don't buy that.
The problem is that it may be part of the Heat Shield so now they have to take the Shuttles arm and look it over with the Cameras and make sure that
everything is o.k. before they can re-enter the atmosphere.
That is why the piece of debris is delaying the Shuttle landing by one day.
Let's say they find out it is indeed a tile, ( and no it won't say "made in China" on it! ), and it's from a leading edge or some other crucial
place. Will they be able to do anything about it? I know they practiced with some repair techniques, but wasn't the shuttle attached to the ISS when
they were performed? Will they be able to repair something so late in the mission? I think these contingencies were to repair damage from liftoff, not
from late in the mission. . .
Again, I hope they're gonna be alright. If they lose this one all hell's gonna break loose. Could it be the end of the shuttle program, and we'll
have to rely on Soyus to maintain the ISS.

