Discovery appears in good shape on way to space station (AFP)
12.12.2006 08:26 Space - Source: Yahoo space
"We still have a lot of work in front of us but so far so good," lead flight director Tony Ceccacci told reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Images from ground cameras showed small pieces of foam insulation and ice falling off the shuttle's external fuel tank after Saturday's liftoff in Cape Canaveral, Florida, but too late into ascencion to cause concern, said deputy shuttle manager John Shannon.
"Early indications is that all of the systems of Discovery and the external tank and the solid rocket boosters performed very well," Shannon said.
"We also looked at the early warning system that we have for any debris on ascent and the team sees nothing of concern at this time," he said.
In what has become a routine part of shuttle flights since the 2003 Columbia tragedy, Discovery astronauts used a camera and lasers on the orbiter's robotic arm to scan its nose cap and wing leading edges to detect any potential damage to the heat shield.
The images will be examined by experts at the Johnson Space Center.
A piece of insulating foam damaged Columbia's heat shield shortly after launch, causing the shuttle to disintegrate upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts and grounding the shuttle program for more than two years.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration resumed shuttle flights last year with a mission focused on improving safety.
A second mission aimed at making space flight safer took place in July, a near flawless mission that allowed NASA to resume construction of the International Space Station in a September shuttle mission.
Discovery is taking seven astronauts to the ISS to rewire the orbiting laboratory and install an 11-million-dollar truss segment in what NASA has billed as the most complex mission to date.
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