NASA STS-134 Update: Endeavour’s Thermal Protection System Cleared for Entry

Mission managers cleared Endeavour’s thermal protection system for reentry after analysis of data and images from an early-morning focused robotic inspection of the tiles.

A conversation with the pope, the focused inspection and spacewalk preparation highlighted Saturday events aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station.

STS-134 Mission Specialists Drew Feustel, Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff worked for about two hours to configure spacewalking tools. Near the end of their day all crew members gathered for a spacewalk procedure review. Feustel and Fincke were spending the night in the reduced pressure of the station’s Quest airlock to lower the nitrogen content of their blood and reduce the possibility of nitrogen narcosis in the low pressure of the spacesuits.