Shuttle update

All is well with STS-121, the second shuttle flight since the loss of Columbia. The shuttle has been docked with the International Space Station for several days now and the astronauts have transferred new equipment onto the station and have performed a series of spacewalks and re-entry safety checks on the shuttle orbiter itself. NASA has officially green lighted a return to Earth on monday, as planned. However, the orbiter will be examined again before re-entry for any damage inflicted by micrometeoroids or space junk (tiny man-made debris orbiting Earth and not so tiny decommissioned satellites). Obviously the astronauts would sense any impact with something as large as a satellite, but the small stuff is very worrisome because it can create nearly undetectable damage to the orbiter. However, it would appear that the shuttle is in perfect health for a monday return to Earth.

To see some unbelievable video of the separation of a solid rocket booster from the shuttle during launch, head to the NASA homepage. The video is 12 minutes long, but stick with it, the separation is fantastic and the subsequent descent of the SRB back to Earth and finally into the ocean is a unique look into the operational lifetime of a shuttle launch component.