STS-114 Report #02 Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - Midnight CDT Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

The crew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery has awakened to its first full day in space Today it will focus on thermal protection system inspections, preparing for docking to the International Space Station and getting spacesuits ready for three spacewalks

Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi, Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda received a wakeup call at 11:39 p m CDT The song played for the crew was music from the movie “Ground Hog Day,” which was for the entire crew to commemorate its first day out of quarantine

For most of the day, Thomas, Camarda and Kelly will work together on DiscoveryÂ’s aft flight deck to inspect key components of the orbiterÂ’s heat shield For the majority of the inspections the new Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) laser-scanner will be used The ShuttleÂ’s robotic Canadarm will be used to maneuver the 50-foot boom extension after checkout of the system is completed

In its debut performance, the boom will be used to methodically inspect the leading edges of DiscoveryÂ’s wings and the orbiterÂ’s nose cap to insure that they did not incur any damage during launch The Laser Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI) on the boom will provide two-and three-dimensional imagery The data will be downlinked to the ground for engineering evaluation

After those surveys are complete the boom will be placed back on the starboard sill of the payload bay The Shuttle robotic arm and its cameras will then be used to survey DiscoveryÂ’s crew cabin Additionally, using handheld digital cameras the crew will photograph tiles on the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods and the orbiterÂ’s tail

During Tuesday’s ascent to orbit, the enhanced imaging capability gave flight controllers and mission managers views of the Shuttle Orbiter never seen before With this heightened ability, engineers were able to see two so-called “debris events ” A camera mounted on the external tank caught what appeared to be a small fragment of tile come from Discovery’s underside on or near the nose gear doors A later image about the time of Solid Rocket Booster separation showed an unidentified piece departing from the tank and exiting away, apparently not striking the orbiter The crew was notified of these observations and told that imaging experts would be analyzing the pictures

Mission managers will review the information gathered yesterday and today, including imaging and sensor data, to help determine the health of DiscoveryÂ’s thermal protection system over the next four days before it is cleared for landing later in the flight Data from the new wing leading edge sensors was downlinked overnight to Mission Control for assessment

Flight Day Four has time reserved for additional surveys, if required, using the OBSS, either to complete parts of the survey that time would not allow today, or to supplement the survey with “stop-and-stare” scans of sites of potential interest

Meanwhile, on the middeck, spacewalkers Noguchi and Robinson, assisted by Lawrence, will check out the airlock, spacesuits and tools they will begin using on Saturday They will also prepare Shuttle systems for docking to the Space Station

Today Collins will fire DiscoveryÂ’s thrusters twice to refine its approach to the Station At about midnight, Discovery was trailing the Station by 6,516 statute miles The two are scheduled to link up at 6:18 a m CDT Thursday

Today the Space Station crew, Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips will prepare the complex for DiscoveryÂ’s arrival They will configure the digital cameras they will use during DiscoveryÂ’s approach, gathering additional imagery of the ShuttleÂ’s heat shield They also will pressurize the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2) that Discovery will dock to Thursday

The next STS-114 mission status report will be issued Wednesday evening, or earlier, if events warrant