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June 12, 2007
 With the United States space shuttle Atlantis docking at the International Space Station [Images], astronaut Sunita Pandya-Williams has packed her bags after a six-month long stint in space, the longest ever for a lady astronaut.
However, worrying questions remain unanswered about a section of a peeled-back thermal blanket on the shuttle that will bring Sunita and the rest of the Atlantis crew home.
Astronaut [Images] Danny Olivas took photographs from inside the shuttle of the area where the thermal blanket had peeled back. The images were sent to Mission Control at NASA [Images] for analysis.
NASA engineers are focusing their attention on a gap about 4 inches by 6 inches that was discovered after Friday's launch from the Kennedy Space Center.
Engineers continue to review photographs of the affected area to determine whether it could pose a problem when Atlantis returns to Earth. They are not sure if stitching on the blanket came loose or whether the blanket, covering a pod of engines near the shuttle's tail, was hit by debris during the launch. NASA is taking no chances after the Columbia disaster in February 2003, when Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla and six other crew members perished. The shuttle disintegrated on re-entry to earth when a protective foam tile shook loose and a hole burned into the shuttle's body. Image: The image, showing a gap in a thermal blanket on the port side of the shuttle, was taken by astronaut Danny Olivas.
Photograph courtesy: NASA
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