No Focused Inspections for Discovery

by Chris Bergin

NASA managers are taking a recommendation to today’s MMT (Management Mission Team) that no Focused Inspections will be required on Flight Day 5 for Shuttle orbiter Discovery – pointing to the clearance of all areas of interest on her Thermal Protection System (TPS).

Discovery’s crew awoke to ABBA on Flight Day 4 of STS-116 – which will involve the first of three complex spacewalks.










**Over 2100mb of STS-116 onwards related presentions and mission documentation available on L2 ** Around 15 documents and images helped collate this article – all downloadable on L2.

**LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-116 – FOR EACH FLIGHT DAY**

The note – recieved live on this site’s L2 live NASA memo update pages – read: ‘(Names removed) reported that the recommendation going forward to the MMT today is to NOT do the FD5 focused inspection.’

The note was sent at 9am Central Time. The MMT will meet at 1pm Central Time.

The news will also see the standing down of Atlantis from LON (Launch On Need) requirements, allowing her processing flow to concentrate on STS-117, set to launch next Spring.

On the first of three EVAs, Sweden’s Christer Fuglesang and NASA’s Robert Curbeam will install the P5 truss segment. They spent the night in the Quest airlock – which they will depart from – in order to breathe pure oxygen, and avoid a condition called the bends.

While any concerns have been allayed, it is likely the TPS will get a quick scan at the end of Flight Day 4, for the purpose of collecting data for future flights.

Following the EVA, a new article will follow.

 


**LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-116 – FOR EACH FLIGHT DAY**







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