Astronauts inspect shuttle on way to space station

AP

Cape Canaveral: Endeavour's astronauts inspected their ship early today for any launch damage as they raced toward a 320-kilometer-high rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Barely a day after blasting into orbit, the space shuttle crew used a 30-meter, laser-tipped boom to check the thermal shielding on the wings and nose.

A few pieces of foam insulation broke off the external fuel tank during yesterday morning's launch, including a narrow 1-foot strip. But there was no indication anything hit the shuttle.

A foam strike brought down Columbia in 2003, and orbiting astronauts have carried out exhaustive inspections ever since. Commander George Zamka and his crew performed the routine survey to make sure the launch cameras did not miss something.

The long, laborious process got under way late yesterday and stretched into this morning.

The astronauts were in the home stretch, surveying Endeavour's left wing, when the screens suddenly went black. Mission Control worked with pilot Terry Virts to get everything back in order. The interruption lasted just a half-hour.

Flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho said nothing of concern was immediately apparent, but stressed that the data needed to be analyzed by experts.

Endeavour will catch up with the space station early tomorrow, performing a slow-motion pirouette for the cameras before docking. The close-up pictures of the shuttle's belly, impossible to see any other way in such detail, will provide even more information regarding Endeavour's health.