NASA Ekes Out Mapping Time for Shuttle

After saving enough fuel aboard space shuttle Endeavour for nine days of Earth-mapping, NASA decided Friday to eke out nine more hours.

Endeavour’s astronauts were supposed to retract their 197-foot radar antenna mast on Sunday night after nine days of mapping. But NASA said it will leave the mast out a little bit longer to collect more data.

“That is super news,” shuttle commander Kevin Kregel said.

Here’s the catch: By adding nine more hours of mapping, NASA gives up any chance for astronauts to go out and crank in the mast if it jams. There won’t be enough time for a spacewalk before Endeavour heads back on Tuesday.

The mast--the longest rigid structure ever flown in space and worth an estimated $35 million--would have to be ejected and left to burn up in the atmosphere.

Milt Heflin, mission operations representative, said it is a gamble worth taking. Heflin noted that the mast was extended with ease on Feb. 11, and said the chance of it jamming or breaking on the way back in is extremely low.

Scientists originally were promised 10 full days of mapping. But just a few weeks before the flight, NASA reduced that to nine days. The space agency said it wanted to give the astronauts enough time to conduct a spacewalk in case the mast jammed on the way back in.

Then, after Endeavour lifted off, the ninth day of mapping was jeopardized by a balky thruster on the end of the radar antenna mast. Because of the thruster problem, the shuttle had to use more fuel to keep the mast pointed in the right direction.

NASA quickly came up with innovative ways to conserve enough fuel to guarantee nine full days of mapping.

Michael Kobrick, a scientist working at Mission Control, said he would hate to lose the mast. But he too said he is willing to take that risk.

“I’m reminded of a story I heard about H.L. Hunt, the millionaire,” he said. “One day a reporter asked him, ‘How much money is really enough?’ And he said, ‘Just a little more.’ Well, that’s how much data I’m going to want out of this mission. Whatever they give me, I’m going to want just a little more.”