STS-125 Continues - Damage Appears Minor

Space shuttle Atlantis will meet up with the Hubble Space Telescope today. Engineers continue to examine the images captured during Tuesday’s inspection of Atlantis’ thermal protection system and exterior surfaces. During that inspection, mission managers noted one area of damage on the forward part of the spacecraft where the wing blends into the fuselage. Initially it appears to be very minor and of no concern for the mission, and the flight team notified the crew late Tuesday that no focused inspection of that particular area is necessary.

Extra time has been built into the EVA schedule at Hubble, so controllers hope that if any repair to the shuttle is necessary it can be accomplished within that time.

The STS-125 crew will perform five spacewalks to refurbish, restore and renew the Hubble Space Telescope. The first spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday.