Shuttle Atlantis closes in on space station
Monday, 11 June 2007
WASHINGTON, Jun 10 (AFP): The US shuttle Atlantis closed in on the International Space Station Sunday as its crew prepared for a new phase of its mission aimed at boosting the station's power-generating capacity.
The shuttle, on its first mission of the year, suffered a four-inch (10 centimeter) tear on its thermal blanket and small pieces of foam broke off from its external fuel tanks after it blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Friday.
Crew members completed scheduled inspections of the spacecraft's heat shield overnight Saturday using the shuttle's giant robotic arm to check Atlantis' underside, nose cap and edges of the wings for damage, NASA said.
The shuttle, on its first mission of the year, suffered a four-inch (10 centimeter) tear on its thermal blanket and small pieces of foam broke off from its external fuel tanks after it blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Friday.
Crew members completed scheduled inspections of the spacecraft's heat shield overnight Saturday using the shuttle's giant robotic arm to check Atlantis' underside, nose cap and edges of the wings for damage, NASA said.