Shuttle Astronauts Use Boom to Gauge Jet Engine Exhaust
Discovery’s astronauts fired their steering jets Sunday at the longest boom ever extended from a space shuttle, an 82-foot arm used to measure damage from engine exhaust.
“It’s an awesome sight,” astronaut Susan Helms said of the boom suspended over the cargo bay.
Instruments at the end of the boom measured the pressure and heat of the jet exhaust as well as contaminants, any of which could ruin solar panels, radiators and other large structures on a space station.
The first shuttle-station docking is scheduled for May, when Atlantis flies to Russia’s Mir. Shuttles also would have to dock frequently with an international space station that’s scheduled to be built in orbit beginning in 1997.
A video camera on the end of the boom captured rare, tip-to-tip views of the shuttle in orbit.
The nine-day mission is due to end next Sunday. NASA will add a 10th day for science purposes if power permits.
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