spacetoday.net: Station truss segment installed; shuttle damage assessment planned

Posted: Sun, Aug 12, 2007, 4:59 AM ET (0859 GMT)
STS-118: EVA #1 (NASA)

Astronauts installed a new truss segment to the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Saturday while NASA continued to study damage to the underside of the shuttle Endeavour. Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams spent six hours and 17 minutes outside the shuttle-station complex on Saturday to complete the installation of the S5 segment to the starboard side of the station's truss. The two also retracted the radiator on the P6 truss segment to prepare it for its move from the top of the station to the end of the port side of the truss on a later shuttle mission. Shuttle engineers, meanwhile, continued to analyze images of the underside of the orbiter that show a gash several centimeters across in the shuttle's tiles. Officials said late Saturday that the gash was likely caused by foam that took a "bad bounce" off an external tank strut during the launch, rather than ice as previously thought. NASA plans more inspections of the shuttle on Sunday to better determine the size and depth of the gash, but thought it less likely that a spacewalk would be required to repair the damage.