July 4, 2011 - Do-It-Yourself Shuttle Repair

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The Week in Space

July 4-10, 2011

Do-It-Yourself Shuttle Repair When the space shuttle Discovery lifted off five years ago this week, one of its main objectives was to test various methods of in-flight repair of any damage that might occur to an orbiter’s delicate heat shield. The exercises were prompted by the STS-107 Columbia disaster three years earlier, which was caused by a section of heat shield damaged during liftoff. Astronaut Piers Sellers (seen here during the third and final space walk of the STS-121 mission) and crew mate Mike Fossum spent over seven hours practicing repair work on pre-damaged samples of heat shield materials that were brought into space on a special pallet in Discovery’s payload bay. The STS-121 crew also delivered over two tons of cargo to the ISS, including a new cycling machine for physical fitness.

Image credit: NASA