The condition of the shuttle, as shown by all the tests conducted on it in space, is normal, and there is no fear of a malfunction upon return to Earth
From left to right - front row: Stephanie Wilson, Mark Kelly, Lisa Novak. Second Row: Pierce Sellers, Mike Possum
The STS-121 Discovery crew and the 13th crew members of the International Space Station continued their scheduled activities on the shuttle Discovery and the space station yesterday.
One of the main tasks was the transfer of items to and from the shuttle to the space station and the Leonardo logistics component, which would be loaded with about 2 tons of scientific experiment results, unnecessary items and trash from the International Space Station and loaded back into the shuttle's cargo deck.
The team is also preparing for the last spacewalk to be performed today starting at 14:13 Israel time. Both astronauts Pierce Sellers and Michael Possum will experiment with repair techniques outside the shuttle. Yesterday morning, the staff held a press conference with the AP and USA TODAY.
At the press conference, the astronauts said that they believe that the shuttle flights today are a little less dangerous than in the past and that they are sure that they will return safely to Earth. Astronaut Mark Kelly said that his twin brother Scott, who is also an astronaut, told him in the phone call "I'm sure you will return safely".
The self-confidence comes from checking the health status of the shuttle after tests and photographs taken of it in space showed that no external damage was caused to the shuttle from the fall of the insulating foam of the external fuel tank during takeoff, unlike, for example, the situation in Discovery's previous flight about a year ago. "We took a step to keep the foam from falling off," Kelly said. "Today we can see all the areas we are interested in. And it's not surprising, this situation was expected."
President Bush, who spoke a few days ago with the astronauts in a video conference, told them that he thanks the astronauts for their work.
