Space debris cut tiny hole in shuttle Atlantis: NASA

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — An unidentified piece of debris pierced a radiator on one of the payload bay doors of space shuttle Atlantis during its recent mission, NASA has said. A team of technicians conducting a routine inspection of the shuttle, which returned September 21 from a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, found the tiny hole, measuring just one-tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters) in diameter, NASA said Thursday.

"The impact occurred sometime during the STS-115 mission last month," a short statement issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. "The nature of the object that hit the shuttle radiator isn't known. The hit, which left a hole about one-tenth of an inch in diameter, didn't endanger the spacecraft or the crew, nor did it affect...