CNN: Discovery docks with space station

[DeepModem Mom]

Discovery docks with space station
Future shuttle flights on hold

Thursday, July 28, 2005; Posted: 9:30 a.m. EDT (13:30 GMT)


CNN) -- Discovery docked with the international space station on Thursday as NASA tried to determine why insulating foam fell off the shuttle's external fuel tank during its launch.

The shuttle-station rendezvous at 7:18 a.m. ET was the first since November 2002, NASA said.

Discovery flew in an unusual upside-down maneuver while it docked so space station cameras with special lenses could take pictures of it, looking for possible damage.

The images were sent from the station to NASA engineers on Earth, who will scrutinize Discovery's surface tiles and its thermal-protection system, explained Wayne Hale, deputy shuttle program manager.

"Any damage will not escape our detection," Hale said at a Wednesday news conference. NASA said that during launch, a piece of tile also fell from Discovery's underside near the forward landing gear -- an area that has a redundant thermal barrier....


http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/28/space.shuttle/index.html

[htuttle]

1. Which contractor is responsible for gluing the tiles on?

Seems like they are trying to save a few bucks on costs. I thought they reglued most of the tiles between every flight, so it couldn't be 'old tiles' could it?

[ronnykmarshall]

2. It was this guy.