Space shuttle crew begin first day in space

by Rich Bowden - Jun 1 2008, 19:57

The crew of the space shuttle have experienced their first full day in space following the successful launch of Discovery from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday.

With the the second component of the Japanese "Kibo" (Hope) space lab dominating the payload, the craft is expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday and STS-124 crew are spending their time inspecting Discovery's heat shield and preparing for their arrival at the ISS.

They are using the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect any possible damage to the heat shield which will protect the craft during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere after some five pieces of what is thought to be insulating foam broke away from the fuel tank during liftoff. The damage though is expected to be of little concern to controllers.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief assured reporters that the limited inspection combined with photographs taken during launch should give controllers an indication if any damage did occur.

Discovery crew plan a more detailed inspection at the half way point of its fourteen day mission after retrieving a laser-tipped boom which was left behind at the ISS by the Endeavour mission.

"We've got a very solid plan for this," said Gerstenmaier quoted by Associated Press.

However the initial inspection will not be as thorough as usual due to the omitting of the 50-foot laser-tipped boom that is attached to the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm to make way for the $1 billion dollar space lab. The delivery will form the second part of the Japanese space lab to be delivered to the space station with the third due to be sent next year.

Discovery will drop off Gregory Chamitoff, one of its astronauts, for the beginning of a six month mission, replacing Garrett Reisman, who will return on the shuttle.

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