Astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis will perform another inspection of the ship Wednesday after at least two mysterious objects were spotted floating in the vehicle's orbit, according to a Local 6 News report.
Tuesday night, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said mission controllers don't have a lot of conclusions about an object spotted below Atlantis early Tuesday.
However, Hale said that there's a strong suspicion that the object's origin is linked to the flight control system checkout that occurred around the same time, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.
It's possible the object spotted in the early-morning video was a shim from the underside of orbiter as seen in the rendezvous pitch maneuver photos, Hale said. The shims are spacers between heat-shield tiles, and one in particular was sticking out quite a bit early in the mission.
Tuesday night, Hale showed another photo taken by Atlantis' crew of a second mystery object floating near the shuttle.
"While we have not definitively put this interesting little picture to bed, there is considerable thought that it is just a plastic bag that came from somewhere and got loose," Hale said.
Also Tuesday night, a reading from a sensor in the orbiter's right wing indicated a possible strike was probably a normal reading linked to the checkout, the report said.
If the inspection results look good, Atlantis could still come home to Kennedy Space Center on Thursday.
There are no emergency plans in the works at this time, so NASA is not currently working on any plans with the International Space Station partners, Hale said.
Radar and telescopes on the ground have not been able to spot the two objects.
Wednesday, a robotic arm will be back out for another pass over Atlantis.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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