Atlantis Crew Checks Out Heat Shield

Jun 09, 07:07 PM

Current Headlines: Atlantis' crew Saturday inspected the U.S. space shuttle's heat shield and prepared for a Sunday rendezvous with the international space station.

The crew members used Atlantis' robotic arm and an attached boom extension to check the spacecraft's underside, nose cap and leading edges of the wings, as well as hard-to-reach shuttle surfaces, NASA said on its Web site. Earlier checks by the robotic cameras focused on an area of insulation blanket on the port orbital maneuvering system pod that pulled away from adjacent thermal tiles.

Engineers were analyzing those pictures, NASA said.

The crew also spent time Saturday checking out the spacesuits they will use during the mission's three scheduled spacewalks at the space station. Their primary mission on those walks will be to install and activate the station's newest truss segments, the space agency said.

The shuttle also is delivering a new crew member to the station.