Astronauts look for damage on shuttle ahead of docking
Discovery's astronauts used lasers and digital cameras to examine the shuttle's wings for any signs of launch damage as they gained on the International Space Station with every circling of Earth.
The good news was that Discovery's fuel tank did not appear to lose any significant amount of foam insulation during the crucial first two minutes of flight, said John Shannon, head of the mission management team.
"Overall, the tank performed extremely well," he said.
More data and analyses are needed, however, before Nasa can say with absolute certainty that the shuttle's thermal shielding made it through the launch damage-free.
The inspection carried out yesterday is standard procedure, but it is an even higher priority this time because of questions about possible flaws in three wing panels.
Before Tuesday's launch, a Nasa safety group recommended that the flight be delayed because there may be some cracking beneath the coating on these three panels. But senior managers decided to proceed, saying it was an acceptable risk.
Discovery is delivering a new room, about the size of a school bus, for the space station. It is the first live-in addition since 2001.
The pressurised compartment, called 'Harmony', will serve as the docking port for Europe and Japan's laboratories, which will be launched on the next three shuttle flights.
Onboard preparations for the docking and the first spacewalk of the mission, set for tomorrow, were interrupted by repeated computer and cable problems.
Once Discovery arrives at the space station, the seven astronauts will have little if any time to deal with problems.
They are facing the most challenging construction work ever attempted in a single mission: installing Harmony, moving a massive girder and set of solar wings on the station, and pulling out those solar wings and radiators.
Four spacewalks are planned to accomplish all this, and a fifth will demonstrate a repair method for shuttle thermal tiles.
