NASA weighs options to fix gash

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2007 | by Traci Watson

A NASA official said Monday that astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour will probably fix a deep gouge in the spaceship's delicate heat-shielding tiles if the job isn't too difficult.

"I'm probably going to go ahead and go do it" if a repair is straightforward, said John Shannon, deputy shuttle program manager.

The gouge is no threat to the safety of the crew, he said, but the damage could mushroom when the shuttle's belly feels the 1,500-degree temperatures of re-entering the atmosphere. A repair in orbit could prevent time-consuming bodywork on Earth and thus might be "the prudent thing for the vehicle," Shannon said.

The space agency said it most likely won't decide until Wednesday whether Endeavour's crew will make a spacewalk to fix the gash,...