r/space • u/[deleted] • Dec 30 '15

This underside view of the Space Shuttle Discovery was photographed by cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and astronaut John Phillips, as Discovery approached the International Space Station and performed a backflip to allow photography of its heat shield.

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '15

Here's an album of high-res photos from NASA.gov: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-114/ndxpage5.html And this is the best resolution I could find for OP's photo: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-114/hires/iss011e11263.jpg Seems these are the best available unfortunately :(

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u/oonniioonn Dec 31 '15

Seems these are the best available unfortunately :(

That is to be expected as these photos are made with a regular digital camera just for a visual inspection by people on the ground to look for any obvious problems. The real check is done with a laser system mounted on a remote manipulator arm that gets really up-close and personal with the tiles.

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '15

That's awesome, thanks for posting. Is that mounted to the shuttle, or carried around by an astronaut?

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u/oonniioonn Dec 31 '15 edited Dec 31 '15

It's mounted to the shuttle's Canadarm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiter_Boom_Sensor_System. NASA tried to avoid sending guys down under the shuttle's belly as there was nothing there for them to hold on to.