NASA has decided that repairs to a gouge in the heat shield tiles on shuttle Endeavour will not be required. The affected area was not deemed a risk to the lives of the crew, instead Officials were worried about possible damage to the shuttle's aluminum frame. After a five hour meeting today, it was decided not to try a risky spacewalk to try to repair the damage.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA decided Thursday that no repairs are needed for a deep gouge in Endeavour's belly and that the space shuttle is safe to fly home. Mission Control notified the seven shuttle astronauts of the decision right before they went to sleep, putting an end to a week of engineering analyses and anxious uncertainty — both in orbit and on Earth.
Endeavour's relieved commander, Scott Kelly, thanked everyone on the ground for their hard work. Mission Control replied, "It's great we finally have a decision and we can press forward."
After meeting for five hours, mission managers opted Thursday night against any risky spacewalk repairs, after receiving the results of one final thermal test. The massive amount of data indicated Endeavour would suffer no serious structural damage during next week's re-entry.
Their worry was not that Endeavour might be destroyed and its seven astronauts killed in a replay of the Columbia disaster; the gouge is too small to be catastrophic. They were concerned that the heat of re-entry could weaken the shuttle's aluminum frame at the damaged spot and result in lengthy postflight repairs.
The chairman of the mission management team, John Shannon, said Johnson Space Center's engineering group in Houston wanted to proceed with the repairs. But everyone else, including safety officials, voted to skip them.
"I am 100 percent comfortable that the work that has been done has accurately characterized it (the damage) and that we will have a very successful re-entry," Shannon said.
I have no way of assessing the two different positions given the information in the news reports.
I can assess it kinda.
If nothing happens few people will remember it.
If there is a catastrophe, then everyone will.