Astronauts Relieved About Skipping Repairs, Say Too Many Things Could Go Wrong

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Endeavour's astronauts said Friday they were relieved by NASA's decision to skip repairs to the deep gouge on their spaceship's belly, and noted it would have been

Friday, August 17th 2007, 6:59 am

By: News On 6

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Endeavour's astronauts said Friday they were relieved by NASA's decision to skip repairs to the deep gouge on their spaceship's belly, and noted it would have been tough to pull the job off.

``We were not looking forward to doing it only because there was a lot of risk involved,'' said Rick Mastracchio, who would have been the main repairman.

It would have been difficult to prepare all the tools and get to the gouge on Endeavour's underside, Mastracchio said. The actual repair _ applying black paint and caulk-like goo to the crevice _ would have been the shortest part, he said.

Endeavour's commander, Scott Kelly, said the crew was concerned about potentially causing more damage to the underside of the shuttle. All seven shuttle astronauts and even the three crewmen on the international space station supported the decision, he noted.

``We agree absolutely 100 percent with the decision to not repair the damage,'' Kelly said in a news conference from space.

Thursday night's decision by mission managers was not unanimous. Some engineers at Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to Mission Control, thought it would be prudent to send Mastracchio and another crewman outside to patch the 3 1/2-inch-long, 2-inch-wide gouge.

But mission managers and most everyone else shared Kelly's view that the damage _ well understood and by no means catastrophic _ could have been made worse and was, in fact, unnecessary.

Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the space station on Monday and land on Wednesday. But NASA is keeping a sharp eye on Hurricane Dean, currently aiming for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. If it looks like the storm might veer toward Houston and force Mission Control to relocate to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, managers could order the shuttle to come home a day early or remain at the station longer than planned.

The repair debate and analyses on the ground dragged on for an entire week. The concern was not that Endeavour might be destroyed like Columbia was in 2003, but rather that heat exposure during re-entry might weaken the aluminum frame and require lengthy post-flight repairs.

``I, for one, am happy they took as long as they did,'' Kelly told reporters.

Both Kelly, a Navy commander, and his co-pilot, Marine Col. Charles Hobaugh, said they do not expect any extra tension in the cockpit when it comes time to bring Endeavour home. On board will be teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who was Christa McAuliffe's backup for Columbia's doomed flight in 1986.

``We gave this a very thorough look and I am very, very comfortable and there will be no extra concern in my mind due to this damage,'' Kelly said.

Endeavour's gouge was caused by a piece of debris that broke off the fuel tank at liftoff on Aug. 8. It weighed just one-third of an ounce and consisted of foam insulation, ice or both. Foam had come off that same part of the tank _ a bracket that holds the liquid oxygen feed line in place _ on previous flights.

Kelly said he wouldn't be surprised if damage occurs on the next shuttle flight or the one after that. The shuttle's thermal shield is delicate and, despite all the improvements to the external fuel tank, more are needed, he said.

With all the drama hopefully behind them, the astronauts geared up for one last spacewalk, on Saturday, to install some more equipment outside the space station. The two spacewalkers will be extra careful, avoiding any sharp edges, so they don't rip a glove and have to rush back inside. They also will frequently check their gloves for any damage.

Wednesday's outing was cut short when Mastracchio noticed he'd pierced the thumb of his left glove. The slit penetrated only the top two layers of his five-layer glove.