[geocentrism] News item
- From: Bernie Brauer <bbrauer777@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: geocentrism@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:19:48 -0700 (PDT)
"Two vehicles weighing 230,000 pounds going 17,500 mph, it's tough stuff,"
mission leader John Shannon said of the docking manoeuvre..."
Why is he concerned about the speed of 17.5 when, relative to the other
object, it's going zero mph?
Bernie
Crew inspects gap as shuttle preps to dock By AP
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis yesterday checked
the ship's wings for damage from blastoff as they readied themselves for a
delicate ballet with the international space station this afternoon.
"Two vehicles weighing 230,000 pounds going 17,500 mph, it's tough stuff,"
mission leader John Shannon said of the docking manoeuvre scheduled for 3:38
p.m.
Atlantis' seven astronauts spent much of yesterday inspecting the shuttle's
heat tiles, outer edges and blankets for problems like the one that caused the
fatal Columbia accident in 2003. No glaring problems were reported.
THERMAL BLANKET
But late Friday and early yesterday, the crew spent extra time using a robot
arm to look at a gap in a thermal blanket on the left side of the shuttle. The
gap, about 4 inches, appears to be the result of an unusual fold in the
blanket, a NASA spokesman said.
Before the docking comes manoeuvring that NASA often calls a delicate ballet.
The crew was closing the gap between it and the space station by about 1,300
km every 90-minute orbit.
Before the docking, Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow will move the shuttle
until it is 180 metres below the station and then make the shuttle turn a
360-degree backflip in just nine minutes.
The last few feet of the docking occur so slowly that Atlantis will get only
2.5 cm closer to the station every second.
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