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Gouge Found on Shuttle Endeavour's Underside
SonicSpike writes " NASA has discovered a chunk missing from the underside of the space shuttle Endeavour. It was discovered after the shuttle docked with the ISS earlier today. Technicians theorize it may have been caused by ice ripping free of a fuel take during takeoff. From the article:'The gouge — about 3 inches square — was spotted in zoom-in photography taken by the space station crew shortly before Endeavour delivered teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan and her six crewmates to the orbiting outpost ... On Sunday, the astronauts will inspect the area, using Endeavour's 100-foot robot arm and extension beam. Lasers on the end of the beam will gauge the exact size and depth of the gouge, Shannon said, and then engineering analyses will determine whether the damage is severe enough to warrant repairs. Radar images show a white spray or streak coming off Endeavour 58 seconds after liftoff. Engineers theorize that if the debris was ice, it pierced the tile and then broke up, scraping the area downwind. Pictures from Friday's photo inspection show downwind scrapes."
This is why NASA always has (post-Columbia) astronauts videotape final messages to their families in the event that something like this happens. We should always remember their sacrifice to the country and the hard work that they put in to prepare for this flight. All too often these days, we take astronauts for granted, and it's a shame that we need fallen heroes like these, taken from us far too soon, to remember the very real dangers of this risky, yet worthwhile endeavour.