The tiny meteoroid hit a radiator panel, not the shuttle's protective thermal panels and tiles, The New York Times said Friday. National Aeronautic and Space Administration officials said neither the crew nor the mission in September were in danger. The damaged panel extended from the payload bay doors, which are opened during missions to vent heat produced by the shuttle's systems, the Times said.
Because bay doors are closed before re-entering Earth's atmosphere, the damaged surface was not exposed to the intense re-entry heat. Meteoroid damage is one of the biggest hazards for space missions, the Times said. If the damage was to a heat panel, it would have been found during astronauts' inspections.
If the meteoroid punctured the radiator, damage would have been noticed and the mission would have been shortened, the Times said.
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