On Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 08:27:06PM -0800, Steve Schear wrote: > I can't imagine that it would be so difficult to construct a small, > remotely-controlled, gyro stabilized, tethered probe that would be carried > on all shuttle missions and could be deployed from the cargo bay to closely > inspect the exterior of the craft for possible damage. Even if the shuttle > could not be immediately repaired, it could be somehow moored at some part > of the station and left there till a repair mission could be effected or > perhaps sacrificed by a controlled burn re-entry over an unpopulated area > of the earth as some satellites have already ended their days. In any case > astronauts would then not need to "live-test" a possibly damaged shuttle as > those on Columbia did Saturday.
If they had thought there was damage, couldn't they have just done a tethered space walk to look at it? I thought space walks were a normal practice on both the shuttle and ISS. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com