Unidentified object seen floating away from shuttle: NASA

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery spotted an unidentified object floating behind the craft as well as a bump on the shuttle rudder, the US space agency said Friday.

"After completing a standard day-before-landing test of the shuttle steering jets, the crew indicated they had seen a one-foot- to 1.5-foot-long rectangular object floating away from the shuttle from behind the rear portion of the right wing," NASA said in a statement a day before the shuttle's scheduled landing.

"Shortly afterwards, the crew described what they called a 'bump' on the left side trailing edge of Discovery's rudder," it said.

NASA experts back on Earth were studying images and video of the object and the bump while the crew prepares for Saturday's...