I hope this isn't trouble for the shuttle

[The Squire of Gothos]

From the Beeb;

Astronauts on board the US space shuttle Discovery have reported seeing an object drifting away from the craft.


Shuttle crew said the object was 30-45cm (1-1.5 feet) long. Nasa engineers are trying to identify it from pictures taken by astronauts.


A Nasa official said it was not unusual for objects to become dislodged from the shuttle or its payload bay.


Nasa engineers are also trying to identify a bump sticking out from the shuttle's tail rudder.

Anything of concern?

 

[Twilight]

It's just a little metal clip, apparently it's not a problem:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D919A9580&show_article=1

 

[Brent]

The bump sticking out of the tail rudder doesn't sound good, what the heck

 

[dougkeenan]

"We're confident that it won't be an impact to re-entry. First of all, the bump you saw on the RSB is nominal, pre-flight imagery is the same, no issue. The other issue that floated away is the Trailing Edge Split-Line Barrier. The pictures you took were great. No concern to re-entry. The TESLB is for ascent heating only, not a factor for re-entry. MMT going to meet here in the next few hours. NO arm ops required, still pressing on for tomorrow morning" -- CAPCOM

 

[Brent]

Well good news

 

[jkladis]

If the shuttle were to lose function of an entire aerodynamic control surface like a rudder or elevon, could there be sufficient RCS propellant and control to last until rollout?

 

[M'Sharak]

It's just a little metal clip, apparently it's not a problem:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D919A9580&show_article=1

Sounds pretty benign, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing in the photo accompanying the article. It looks to me like a large plywood box with an eroded patch near the bottom, positioned next to some sort of manifold. It's almost as if it has nothing to do with the article, for all it looks like something shuttle-related.