spacetoday.net: Minor damage seen to shuttle tiles

Posted: Wed, May 13, 2009, 8:42 AM ET (1242 GMT)
STS-125: tile damage on right wing (NASA)

An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday turned up danger to several tiles, but shuttle managers said that the damage is only minor and will not require further inspection. The inspection of the orbiter, one day after its launch, revealed a string of shallow gouges extending over 50 centimeters across four tiles on the underside of the shuttle's right wing. Shuttle managers said, though, said that the damage didn't pose a risk to the shuttle because of their small size and location, and decided that a focused inspection of the area later this week wasn't necessary. Atlantis is set to rendezvous with and grapple the Hubble Space Telescope later Wednesday, with the first of five spacewalks to repair the spacecraft scheduled to begin Thursday.