NASA STS-134 Update: Focused Inspection for Shuttle Crew

Endeavour’s crew woke at 9:26 p.m. EDT Friday to the song “In View” by the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, played for Mission Specialist Drew Feustel who was the lead spacewalker for the first spacewalk of the mission Friday morning.

The crew will enjoy some time off to rest after the successful spacewalk. They will take about two hours to conduct a focused inspection of one damage site on the shuttle’s thermal protection system between the right main landing gear door and the External Tank disconnect door.

Pilot Greg Johnson will lower the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) to about a seven-foot distance above the damage site to take pictures and data with the LCS laser system. Meanwhile, the station’s robotic arm will be positioned on the other side of Endeavour with a vantage point looking under, toward the orbiter, to provide camera views for clearance. Flight controllers are fairly confident the area will be cleared using the higher fidelity data acquired from this inspection.

At 7:11 a.m. crew members will talk to Pope Benedict XVI from the Vatican. Then they begin preparations for the mission’s second spacewalk.