NASA engineers have been examining new images of the space shuttle Endeavour's underbelly to decide if its damaged heat shield needs repair, as astronauts prepared for the mission's second spacewalk.
The three-dimensional images of a gouge in the shield were taken yesterday by a camera, and measured by a laser, both of which were trained on the shuttle's protective surface.
The examination took about three hours as the imaging devices on a 30m long robotic arm scanned five areas on the shuttle underside that may have been damaged during Wednesday's launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The gouge, smaller than initially reported, was made near a landing gear hatch by a piece of foam, possibly covered with ice, that broke off the shuttle's external fuel tank shortly after blast-off.
Mission Management Team chairman John Shannon said an exact mold of the gash will be reproduced in thermal tiles and tested in a laboratory that simulates the extreme heat and friction the shuttle encounters on re-entry to Earth.
The tests should provide engineers with enough data to determine whether repairs are needed to the damaged heat shield before the shuttle undocks from the International Space Station on 20 August.
