NASA is pondering how to remove a rogue knob which has firmly wedged itself between a window and the dashboard of space shuttle Atlantis – an apparently minor affair which could actually result in a six-month delay in the venerable vehicle’s STS-129 mission to the International Space Station, or even see the shuttle grounded for good.

According to NASAspaceflight.com, the offending part is “a quick shoe mount knob from a crew work lamp” which was discovered during maintenance work at the shuttle’s Orbiter Processing Facility.

The knob is resting between the dashboard panel (pics and full details here) and the window’s inner pressure pane and has caused some damage to the glass. Accordingly, it “must be removed to evaluate pane condition before flight”, NASA has concluded.

written by NewsFeeder \\ tags: NASA, shuttle

NASA has announced that they are looking for ideas on what to do with the two space shuttle orbiters and main engine display kits by issuing a Request For Information (RFI) to the public. If you can convince them that you can appropriately display the shuttle to the public along with having enough money to transport and store them then you may have a good chance and scoring your own space shuttle from NASA.

The RFI is looking for ideas and information to help NASA’s Office of Infrastructure develop a plan for the placement of two shuttles and at least six unassembled main engine display “kits”. The plan would be to find the best use of the shuttles and engine kits to inspire the American public.

Not much information was given about the rules of owning a shuttle should you get one at this point, however. It sounds like they would like you to publicly display it but I can’t imagine that firing it up on weekends would be a problem.

NASA Press Release

written by NewsFeeder \\ tags: NASA, Science, Space Ship, Space Shuttle