Junk Wedged Behind Dash May Ground Space Shuttle Atlantis

While the Space Shuttle Atlantis and her crew were repairing the Hubble Space Shuttle in a historic mission last month, a small metal fitting floated unseen behind the cockpit instrument panel. The piece of metal, used for securing work lights in the cockpit, drifted in between the panel and one of the windshields. Sometime during re-entry the fitting became lodged in so tightly that technicians are now unsure if it can be safely removed.

The shuttle windshields are made from three layers of glass and although the outer layers are often replaced due to damage caused by micro meteors in orbit, the inner layers have never needed to be replaced before. In fact, the facility that fitted the inner panes has already closed down and NASA doesn't have an easy way of carrying out the procedure.

Engineers have already tried cooling the fitting down with frozen carbon dioxide, hoping that the cold temperatures would shrink the jammed piece of metal, but so far no luck.

Flying with the fitting jammed against the window is not an option as scientists can't be sure that the additional pressure on the glass won't cause a catastrophic explosion of the windshield.

Atlantis was originally due to be retired after the Hubble repair mission but has since been put down for two additional construction missions to the International Space Station. There are only 8 missions left for the Shuttle fleet before they are retired at the end of 2010. The two missions may have to given to the only two other Space shuttles, Discovery and Endeavour.

On Monday NASA will try pressurizing the Shuttle cabin to see if that will allow the problem piece to work free. If not Atlantis may have already flown its last mission and might end up as parts for the other two shuttles.

Sources
NASA www.nasa.gov
TODD HALVORSON, Knob puts Atlantis in tight spot, FLORIDA TODAY, JUNE 27, 2009