NASA has announced that the space shuttle Atlantis was hit by an object while on its last mission. The impact was on one of the radiators that are extended from the payload bay during flights. The object left a hole about one tenth of an inch in diameter. It is the second worst damage experienced by any NASA vehicle to date due to a strike. There was no danger to the crew.
NASA officials said a micrometeoroid struck a radiator panel that extends from payload bay doors on the shuttle, which returned to Earth last month. The object did not hit the sensitive tiles or thermal panels that help protect the shuttle during its descent. Payload bay doors stay open during missions to lower heat produced by the shuttle.
James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman, told the Times it was "the second-most-damaging particle that we've encountered in the program," but that the damage "posed no danger to the crew and no change to the mission."
The particle left a hole about a tenth of an inch in diameter at the point of entry. Within the radiator, where the particle shattered, the damage was about an inch around and a half inch deep. The exit hole was three-hundredths of an inch in diameter, and, also on that side of the radiator, there was a crack measuring two-tenths of an inch.
The hole's existence was first reported Thursday on NASA's Web site.
There is a picture of the hole over at the NASA website.
Am I the only one who gets a little confused to read the phrase, “…the hole’s existence…”?
maybe it was a portable hole…..
My parents used to tell my older sister not to eat the holes in swiss cheese. They would say that eating the holes would make her sick.