Space Shuttle Discovery’s crew resupplied the International Space Station (ISS) and completed repairs on the Shuttle and ISS last week.
Astronaut Stephen Robinson removed two pieces of gap filler protruding from the area around Discovery’s nose-gear doors on 3 August. Following that mission, controllers declared Discovery safe to re-enter the atmosphere.
On the same day Robinson and his spacewalk partner Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi replaced an ISS attitude control gyroscope and attached an external stowage platform to the station’s exterior.
On 4 August the crew completed its main mission of transferring supplies from the Italian-built Rafael multipurpose logistics module and on 5 August it was detached from the ISS and placed back in the Shuttle’s payload bay.
Following that, the ISS robotic manipulator system put the orbital boom sensor system, used to evaluate Discovery’s thermal protection tiles, on the bay’s starboard side.
Late last week, Discovery had been scheduled to land on the morning of 8 August.
ROB COPPINGER/LONDON
Source: Flight International
