NASA said on Thursday that a small, deep gouge on the heat shield of shuttle Endeavour's belly does not need to be repaired and the space shuttle is safe to fly home, according to NASA TV.
"The MMT (mission management team) has made a decision to fly the (heat shield) as is," NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough told Endeavour's crew from Mission Control Center Thursday night before they go to sleep. "No EVA (spacewalk) repair will be required."
NASA managers and experts have evaluated the gouge for nearly a week. On Wednesday night, NASA decided to move Endeavour mission's fourth spacewalk from Friday to Saturday, so the mission control could have more time to discuss whether a gouge repair should be added to the last spacewalk.
Finally, NASA mission managers came to the consensus that the three-inch gouge in the orbiter's belly was not a vital threat to the shuttle and its crew and is unlikely to cause further damage to Endeavour during its return to Earth next week.
Now that the repair work is finally dismissed, Saturday's spacewalk will be a routine maintenance activity, which will see installation of two antennas and removal of one, installation of an exterior stowage stand and other tasks.
While waiting anxiously the decision from mission control, Endeavour's teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan and mission specialist Alvin Drew on Thursday morning participated in an educational event. They talked to the students at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Virginia.
Source: Xinhua
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