KSC-2010-3084

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers ensure that the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, is properly attached to a lifting device before removing it from space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. The workers are dressed in clean-room attire, known as 'bunny suits.' The 50-foot-long OBSS attaches to the end of the shuttle’s robotic arm and supports the cameras and laser systems used to inspect the shuttle’s thermal protection system while in space. The OBSS' inspection boom assembly, or IBA, is removed from the arm every other processing flow for a detailed inspection. After five consecutive flights, all IBA internal components are submitted to a thorough electrical checkout in Kennedy's Remote Manipulator System Lab. Discovery next will deliver the first Permanent Multi-purpose Module, or PMM; the Express Logistics Carrier 4; and critical spare parts to the International Space Station on the STS-133 mission. Launch is targeted for Sept. 16. Photo credit: NASA_Jack Pfaller