NASA says no need to repair space shuttle damage

HOUSTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) A small, deep gash in space shuttle Endeavour's heat shield does not need to be repaired, NASA said after studying the problem for nearly a week.

Mission managers decided yesterday the three-inch gouge in the ship's belly, blamed on flying debris at launch, was not a threat to the shuttle and its crew and is unlikely to cause further damage to Endeavour during its fiery return to Earth next week.

NASA managers have ''made a decision to fly the (heat shield) as is, no EVA (spacewalk) will be required,'' astronaut Shane Kimbrough in Mission Control radioed to the shuttle crew.

A repair job would have required two spacewalking astronauts to fill the cut with a heat-resistant filler that hardens like caulk.

The operation, conducted at the end of a robot arm and in proximity to easily damaged tiles that protect the shuttle from heat, was not without its own risks, NASA managers have said.

The gash occurred when insulating foam and possibly ice from the shuttle fuel tank struck Endeavour's underside as it launched from Florida on August 8 on a construction mission to the International Space Station.

The damage pierced all the way through the heat-resistant tile, which prompted NASA to perform exhaustive tests on damage mockups before reaching its decision.

The US space agency has been cautious about heat shield damage since shuttle Columbia broke apart shortly before landing in 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board.

The accident was blamed on damage to the wing heat shield caused by flying tank foam at launch that went undetected.

Even though no repair is needed, Endeavour astronauts will make the fourth spacewalk of their mission on Saturday, performing a list of chores instead.

RETURN SET FOR WEDNESDAY On Wednesday, astronaut Rick Mastracchio had to cut short a spacewalk because he discovered a small hole in his spacesuit glove and was ordered go back inside the space station as a precaution, NASA said.

Yesterday, astronauts found a nick in Endeavour's windshield from a hit by a tiny meteor.

Endeavour arrived August 10 at the station, where astronauts installed a new beam on the station's structural backbone, and is due to undock on Monday and return to Florida on Wednesday.

Earlier yesterday, teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan fielded an emotional televised linkup with June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of space shuttle Challenger commander Dick Scobee, and schoolchildren gathered at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Alexandria, Virginia.

Scobee and other Challenger family members set the center up to honor the crew lost in the 1986 shuttle accident.

Morgan trained as a backup for Challenger crew member Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school teacher who had planned to conduct lessons from space.

''Barb, we've been standing by waiting for your signal from space for 21 years,'' Rodgers told Morgan, who joined NASA's astronaut corps nine years ago so she could fly in memory of McAuliffe and spotlight education.

''It made me so happy to know the Challenger Center was there, that we had a chance to speak with the kids this morning, that June was there leading the charge as always,'' Morgan told Reuters in an interview from space after the event.

''It's in our hearts and it's wonderful.'' Despite the Challenger and Columbia disasters, Morgan, ever the teacher, said she'd give the shuttle program high marks for its performance.

The remaining three ships are to be retired in 2010 after NASA finishes building the International Space Station.

''I think the shuttle program is an A-plus,'' she said. ''Once we don't have the shuttle any more I think it's going to be something that we all look back on with great nostalgia and we're really, really going to miss it.'' Reuters SZ VP0712