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Astronauts use boom to inspect Atlantis' heat shield BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: February 8, 2008 The Atlantis astronauts spent the morning scrutinizing the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels in a now-standard post-Columbia inspection carried out the day after launch to look for any signs of ascent debris impact damage. The crew also broke out equipment and began readying the orbiter for docking with the international space station Saturday. Space station commander Peggy Whitson, who celebrates her 48th birthday Saturday, told CBS News' "The Early Show" today she's looking forward to Atlantis' arrival and delivery of the European Space Agency's Columbus research module. "My present is a new module that we're going to install on the station," she joked. "I'm really looking forward to it." The shuttle heat shield inspection was conducted using a 50-foot extension on the end of Atlantis' robot arm that is equipped with laser scanners and high-resolution cameras. Maneuvering the OBSS back and forth along the wing leading edge panels, the astronauts collected data that will be analyzed by engineers on the ground as the flight progresses. "The first few times that we have done (this) inspection it took much longer to do, so our robotics, flight controllers and procedure developers have trimmed off quite a bit of time to make this a much faster process for inspection on flight day two," astronaut Leland Melvin said in a NASA interview. "You get faster by optimizing the trajectory of the motion of the arm, so instead of scanning down one side and then coming back and scanning another side, you might be able to get multiple scans in one motion. So thatıs something that theyıve done, looked at how to optimize the trajectory so that you donıt have to make as many passes on the orbiter." Melvin said it typically takes three crew members to carry out the inspection "so if someone gets a little tired or has to make a bathroom break or something we can all rotate out and get the job done." Flight director Mike Sarafin will brief reporters on the progress of the mission at 3 p.m. A second briefing with Mission Management Team Chairman John Shannon is planned for 6 p.m., but may move earlier depending on how long it takes the team to complete its daily assessment. Here is a timeline of today's activities (in EST and mission elapsed time): EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 02/08/08 04:45 AM...00...14...00...Crew wakeup 06:30 AM...00...15...45...Shuttle robot arm (SRMS) powerup 06:45 AM...00...16...00...SRMS checkout 07:35 AM...00...16...50...Laptop computer setup (part 2) 07:45 AM...00...17...00...NC-2 rendezvous rocket firing 08:10 AM...00...17...25...Orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) unberth 08:35 AM...00...17...50...Ergometer setup 09:05 AM...00...18...20...Spacesuit checkout preps 09:10 AM...00...18...25...OBSS starboard wing survey 09:35 AM...00...18...50...Spacesuit checkout 11:05 AM...00...20...20...Spacesuits prepped for transfer to station 11:05 AM...00...20...20...OBSS nose cap survey 12:05 PM...00...21...20...Crew meal 01:05 PM...00...22...20...Spacewalk transfer preps 01:05 PM...00...22...20...OBSS port wing survey 03:00 PM...01...00...15...Mission status briefing on NTV 03:05 PM...01...00...20...OBSS berthing 03:40 PM...01...00...55...OMS pod survey 03:50 PM...01...01...05...Laser data downlink 04:00 PM...01...01...15...Rendezvous tools checkout 04:30 PM...01...01...45...Centerline camera setup 05:00 PM...01...02...15...Orbiter docking system ring extension 05:25 PM...01...02...40...NC-3 rendezvous rocket firing 06:00 PM...01...06...00...Post-MMT briefing on NTV 08:45 PM...01...06...00...Crew sleep begins 09:00 PM...01...06...15...Daily video highlights reel on NTV
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VIDEO:
FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE 