Arabbit.403 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!npois!alice!rabbit!sjb Tue Mar 23 19:47:12 1982 Shuttle News Columbia has now completed more than its first day in space. During that day, astronauts Lousma and Fullerton reported to NASA that several tiles along the bridge of the shuttle's nose were missing or damaged. Officials say, however, that they are in a ``thermally benign'' area and pose no danger. They theorize that falling ice from the external tank may have hit the shuttle and taken tiles with it. During ascent, the astronauts reported white things hitting the cockpit window. Also during they night and day, Columbia's tail was turned towards the sun, enduring the grueling heat of space. A circuit breaker on a wrist camera on the robot arm popped, forcing postponement of a test of the end grabber. Meanwhile, in the Atlantic Ocean, crews reported that the SRB's had endured less damage than on the previous two flights. They are supposed to be towed into port by tonight. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.