First Spacewalk To Occur Tuesday Morning
Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space
Station at 1403 EDT Monday, delivering the second component of the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and a
new Expedition 17 crew member.
The STS-124 astronauts entered the station for the first time
after the hatches between the two spacecraft opened at 1536,
according to NASA.
Prior to docking at the station, Commander Mark Kelly guided the
orbiter through the routine "backflip" maneuver, allowing ISS
crewmembers to photograph Discovery's heat shield for signs of
damage incurred during launch. As ANN reported, a chunk of
foam was caught on video striking the orbiter's belly about
three-and-a-half minutes in to the shuttle's Saturday launch.
Despite the seriousness of the task at hand, however, Expedition
17 crewmember Garrett Reisman -- who took many of the photographs
-- injected some humor to the task, as well... noting the clarity
of the photos allowed him to see inside Discovery's flight
deck.
"Please tell Ken Ham he has some ketchup on his shirt," Reisman
said, reports The New York Times. Ham is the shuttle's pilot;
Reisman was replaced on Expedition 17 by Mission Specialist Greg
Chamitof.
The crew members aboard the orbiting complex also prepared for
the first of three STS-124 spacewalks, which Mission Specialists
Mike Fossum and Ron Garan are scheduled to begin at 1132
Tuesday.
In something of a surprise to crews on the ground, shuttle
mission management team lead LeRoy Cain said the launch pad
sustained "some fairly significant damage" during Saturday's launch
-- with a 75' x 20' section of the pad's "flame trench" destroyed
during launch. Several concrete blocks leading to the pad were also
torn away, and debris was catapulted through the perimeter fence
surrounding the pad.
"For the shuttle program, I think it’s unprecedented in
terms of the magnitude," he said. Cain added it's unlikely any of
the debris could have bounced back up to strike Discovery, though
he acknowledged that "is a scenario that we are concerned
about."
As of yet, NASA officials have no idea what happened to cause so
much damage to the pad -- whether something unusual happened during
the launch, or a previously undiscovered flaw in the flame trench
was revealed. "We need to go understand what that is," Cain
said.