NASA says no spacewalk to fix Endeavour gouge

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

Space shuttle Endeavour will make the superheated re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere without a repair to its deeply gouged heat shield, NASA managers decided Thursday.

Endeavour is scheduled to land Wednesday at roughly 1 p.m. ET after a 14-day mission.

Officials decided unanimously that the damage is "not a threat to crew safety," said deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon. "I am 100% certain that ... we will have a successful re-entry."

The inch-deep gouge runs all the way through one of the shuttle's heat-protective tiles, exposing the felt pad below the tile. The gash sits in a section of the shuttle's belly that reaches 1,500 degrees as the spacecraft hurtles through the atmosphere toward Earth.

In 2003, a hole in shuttle...