Discovery safe for re-entry

[Guest Glenn]

Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19 ... 09,00.html

 

NASA today declared the Discovery shuttle free of damage to its heat shield, saying it is safe for re-entry.

 

"The TPS (thermal protection system) is 100 per cent clear for entry," a mission control official told Discovery commander Steven Lindsey from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

 

"That is great news. That's fantastic," replied Lindsey, who docked Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday.

 

The shuttle is scheduled to return to Earth on July 17.

 

Analysts spent the past few days checking a mountain of images, looking for any damage that might have been caused by debris during Wednesday's liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

 

But they concluded that astronauts would not need to conduct a spacewalk to repair the shuttle.

 

Discovery will get the final all-clear to land after a last checkup at the end of the mission to make sure it was not hit by micrometeorites while in orbit.