Word: orbitals
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There is no easy way to fix the gouge in the Shuttle Endeavour. In-orbit repair options are limited and, since any fix would have to be made by robotic arms and astronauts in awkward space suits, the process would be fraught with the potential to make the problem worse. Still, Mission team chairman John Shannon said that, according to his team's analysis, the damage should pose no risk to the astronaut crew on the return home. There is, however, potential for more damage to the shuttle itself on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere when temperatures...
...deep divot in the ship's insulating tiles. It was foam damage that killed the shuttle Columbia in February 2003, when superheated gases generated during reentry entered the ship through a breach in the insulation. Ever since then, astronauts have given their spacecraft a close visual inspection upon reaching orbit to look for any troublesome chips. On Sunday, a 3D laser imager attached to Endeavour's robotic arm revealed what could be a nasty...
...wonderfully routine thing. Former Utah Senator Jake Garn snagged himself a seat on one flight - never mind that he spent much of the mission so violently space sick that NASA wags informally added a whole new category, labeled "Garn," to the sliding scale used for diagnosing nausea in orbit. Then Congressman (now Senator) Bill Nelson of Florida spent six days in space aboard the shuttle Columbia in January of 1986, the same month Challenger blew up, causing NASA to decide that maybe space flight was a risky enough job that it indeed ought best be left to the professionals...
Morgan, meantime, will fulfill McAuliffe's legacy, if in a slightly new capacity. No longer a Teacher in Space, but now an "Educator Astronaut," she will teach at least one live lesson from orbit, and up to two more if the mission is extended from 11 to 14 days, as it might be. She is also carrying a cargo of 10 million cinnamon basil seeds (a figure she playfully rounds up to "a kazillion,"), which will be distributed to schoolchildren to grow post-flight, so that they can observe any anomalies that might be attributable to the stint in weightlessness...
...ensure that it can uncover the secrets of both worlds, Dawn will ease itself into a six-month orbit around Vesta, then climb gradually back out and fly on to Ceres, which it will orbit for about five months. This is the part that would have been simply too fuel intensive for an ordinary spacecraft. Dawn, by contrast, should have enough xenon left over after its Ceres stay that mission planners might even consider sending it on to a third destination...