**The most comprehensive collection of STS-117 onwards related presentions and mission documentation, plus expansive daily processing documentation and updates are <\/em>available to download on L2<\/em><\/font> **<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n L2 Members can follow live evaluations with memos and presentations as they are produced via our special STS-117 Special Section. Live as-it-happens NASA information.<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n STS-117: LIVE LAUNCH DAY AND FLIGHT DAY 1<\/font><\/em> \u2013 FLIGHT DAY 2 \u2013 LIVE<\/font> \u2013 <\/em>FLIGHT DAY 3 \u2013 LIVE<\/font><\/em> \u2013 FLIGHT DAY 4 \u2013 LIVE<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n Article: The RPM came before Sunday\u2019s successful docking with the International Space Station (ISS), allowing for photography to be taken of Atlantis\u2019 belly \u2013 along with other areas of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) for analysis on the ground.<\/font><\/p>\n SpaceX launch tickets (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The images were uplinked to the large team of imagery experts, who have already started to pour over the high resolution photos that were taken by Expedition 15 crew members from the ISS.<\/p>\n Shuttle manager John Shannon noted that he had observed some of the images before conducting a press briefing, mentioning that he had seen a protruding gap filler on photos that had just been received. <\/font><\/p>\n A set of 10 RPM images acquired by this site\u2019s L2 section show two gap fillers protruding from Atlantis, along with other areas of interest. None are deemed to be a cause for concern at this time. <\/font><\/p>\n Seen so far on the images are a \u2018pillow\u2019 gap filler, which is protruding at the RCC (Reinforced Carbon Carbon) arrowhead location, observed as sticking out of Atlantis\u2019 belly by only 0.69 inches. <\/font><\/p>\n The tile damage on the aft section of Atlantis\u2019 belly is similar to that seen on Discovery during STS-116. Ironically, given no foam debris was noted to have hit that area, the same situation may have occurred on Atlantis, with SRB debris riding up the airstream during STS-116\u2019s ascent to hit the belly of the orbiter<\/font>. <\/p>\n \u2018Tile substrate is exposed. Tile is damaged adjacent to ET thermal barrier,\u2019 added NASA information that accompanied the images. \u2018Unable to determine from 2D imagery if flowpath exists. <\/p>\n \u2018Dimensions given are for one single damage site, but damage can be separated into two separate parts. Forward-most part of damage is 1.73 inches L x 0.62 inches W. The aft-most portion is 1.22 inches L x 0.3 inches W.<\/p>\n \u2018Damage is not adjacent to ET door thermal barrier. Damage extends through 2 tiles.\u2019<\/p>\n The area of interest on Atlantis\u2019 vertical stabilizer (tail) \u2013 on the Vertical Splitline Thermal Barrier \u2013 is simply noted as \u2018Left side of splitline thermal barrier is frayed.\u2019 No notes of concern have been raised in relation to this at present.<\/font><\/p>\n More images are expected, although it is thought that there are no other areas of interest, which would confirm Atlantis is a relatively clear bird. This correlates with the lack of debris being observed via the ET camera during ascent, as the repaired ET-124 performed better than all previous Return To Flight tanks.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018Possible ice formation from water spray boiler vents in OMS Pod crotch area,\u2019 was seen in images acquired by this site\u2019s L2 section. However, this issue has not affected performance.<\/font><\/p>\n As STS-117 moves into Flight Day 4, the first of three scheduled spacewalks (EVAs) will take place, as the installation of the S3\/S4 truss segment becomes the main focus of attention.<\/font><\/p>\n Flight Day 4 activities include: Station robot arm installs S3\/S4 truss on the S1 truss. Reilly and Olivas EVA #1 to connect S1\/S3 power cables, release launch constraints, release solar array blanket box restraints and install Solar Alpha Rotary Joint Drive Lock Assemblies. S3 truss and S4 electrical channel 3A and 1A activation.<\/p>\n Shannon noted that continued evaluations will continue in parallel \u2013 without focus being taken away from the primary mission objectives \u2013 in regards to the OMS Pod blanket issue. <\/p>\n Whether it wil require repair is still being evaluated, although a huge presentation acquired by this site showed that historical damage to the OMS Pod over previous missions has been far more extensive than observed with Atlantis.<\/p>\n The evaluations are looking at thermal conditions that will be experienced by the raised blanket, which could translate to the exposed graphite expoxy shell during re-entry.<\/p>\n A decision will be made nearer the end of the docked phase of the mission, in time for an EVA to repair the area via simply tucking the blanket back in place, via current repair capabilities onboard Atlantis, or leaving it \u2018as-is.\u2019<\/p>\n Follow Atlantis\u2019 mission with live updates on our <\/font>Flight Day specific interactive live event pages<\/font> \u2013 open to all. <\/font><\/em><\/p>\n For L2 members, follow NASA\u2019s evaluations on the L2 Flight Day specific pages (which contain 100s and same day documentation and presentations \u2013 15 presentations alone on Flight Day 2 and another 10 presentation on Flight Day 3).<\/p>\n **INFINITY: 10 minute STS MUSIC VIDEO**<\/font><\/em><\/font> \u2013 COMING SOON: Atlantis\/Starlight. **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As is now commonplace for shuttle missions, Atlantis has two protruding gap fillers on her belly, as the first set of high resolution images from Flight Day 3\u2019s (Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver) undergo evaluations. The images \u2013 acquired first by NASASpaceflight.com, Sunday \u2013 also show similar damage to a tile near the port ET door as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<\/font>**Ride home through the fire and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis on STS-115 \u2013 And now also with Discovery on STS-116 \u2013 TWO Stunning high quality 2hr, 355mb videos \u2013 from deorbit burn to post landing**<\/font> <\/p>\n
This was the first gap filler to be spotted. Its location isn\u2019t clear, although it\u2019s believed to be near the nose gear doors. The second \u2018Ames\u2019 gap filler is protruding 2.1 inches on the aft stub of the orbiter.<\/p>\n
This leaves the Port OMS Pod as the main area of interest at present, as reported on Saturday. However, it\u2019s not just the raised blanket that is being looked at, following new information on Sunday that the same OMS Pod was suffering from increased icing.<\/p>\n
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