Shuttle’s shield may need repair

A routine shuttle mission, highlighted by a former teacher’s first spaceflight and construction of the space station, is now overshadowed by a troubling gash in Endeavour’s thermal shield.

A detailed laser inspection of the difficult-to-reach area on Endeavour’s belly could send astronauts out to repair the 3-inch wound later in the week, although NASA officials at Cape Canaveral said that prospect appeared less likely than it did a day earlier.

As a pair of spacewalking astronauts installed a new beam to the international space station, engineers on Earth scrutinized images of the gouge, the result of a strike by fuel-tank foam insulation at launch.