A window cover fell from the space shuttle and hit another part of the craft, damaging several tiles.
The cover fell 60 feet and landed on a carrier panel at around 5 pm EDT on Tuesday. The impact to the panel on the shuttle’s Orbital Maneuvering System pod necessitated its replacement.
NASA staff replaced the panel successfully, taking about an hour to do so. No other issues have been reported about the shuttle from the launch site.
Weather has become an increasing concern, with the potential for a weather-related delay of the launch increased to 40 percent from 30 percent. Thunderstorms and rain commonly happen in central Florida during the summer, but usually pass quickly out of the area.
NASA has taken steps to provide a more effective online broadcast of the shuttle launch today. The space agency signed agreements with Yahoo! and Akamai to help meet the expected higher-than-usual number of visitors who want to witness the launch.
Yahoo will provide live streaming of the NASA TV feed in Windows Media Player format. Akamai will stream the launch for RealPlayer users, and will provide all other web content for the mission, an expansion of its existing services for NASA.
“Internet users will be able to follow every event from launch through landing, including the spacewalks. Thanks to this agreement, they’ll be able to do so at no additional cost to the taxpayers,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations, William Readdy.
Discovery’s 12-day mission will include three spacewalks, and the astronauts will deliver supplies to the International Space Station. They will also conduct tests of repair procedures recommended by an independent review board, and survey Discovery for damage while in orbit.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
