It is a busy day for the STS114 crewmembers as Space Shuttle Discovery continues to close in on the International Space Station.
Inspections of Discovery's heat shield began this morning about 5:40 a.m. EDT. Crewmembers are using cameras and a special boom on the robot arm to inspect Discovery's wings, nose cap, and crew cabin. Also, crewmembers are slated to use handheld cameras to inspect tiles on the Orbital Maneuvering System pods. The crew's inspections are slated to last seven hours.
Engineers on the ground are using the imagery and data from today’s inspections and from Tuesday's launch videos to determine the health of Discovery’s heat shield. The engineers continue to evaluate two debris events that were captured by video as Discovery climbed into space.
Other activities today include preparations for the crew’s three spacewalks and Discovery's arrival at the Space Station. Later today, Commander Eileen Collins will adjust Discovery’s orbit for Thursday’s docking scheduled for 7:18 a.m. EDT.
