Shuttle damage no threat; no fix needed - NASA

HOUSTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) A small, deep gash in space shuttle Endeavour's heat shield poses no threat to the ship and does not need repair, NASA said after studying the problem for nearly a week.

NASA officials considered sending astronauts out to patch the 3-inch gash in the shuttle's belly, but decided Endeavour was OK and it was better not to fool with it, mission management team chairman John Shannon said yesterday.

''It does not constitute a risk to the crew, it is not expected to cause any damage to the vehicle structure,'' he said in a briefing at Johnson Space Center.

''You have something you know you can live with, why would you take the risk of the (spacewalk) to change that?'' 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.

NASA worried that Endeavour could suffer further damage through the breach, which pierced the shuttle's heat resistant tiles, during its fiery return to Earth. In the end the U S space agency decided a fix had its own risks, Shannon said.

A repair job would have required two spacewalking astronauts to fill the hole with heat-resistant filler while they stood at the end of a robot arm in proximity to the easily damaged tiles that protect the shuttle from heat.

Shannon said NASA performed exhaustive tests on damage mock-up before reaching a decision he said was not unanimous.

The U.S. 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 tomorrow performing a list of chores instead.

HIGH MARKS 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 Aug. 10 at the station, where astronauts installed a new structural beam on the station, and is due to undock on Monday and return to Florida on Wednesday.

Earlier Thursday, 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.

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. The Challenger crew died when the shuttle fuel tank exploded during take-off in 1986.

''Barb, we've been standing by waiting for your signal from space for 21 years,'' Rodgers told Morgan.

In a later interview from space with Reuters, Morgan, ever the teacher, said she would give the shuttle program high marks despite the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

''I think the shuttle program is an A-plus,'' she said.

REUTERS LPB HT0920