HOUSTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- NASA officials sighed with relief Wednesday as two small pieces of protruding cloth were safely removed from the underside of space shuttle Discovery.
The two pieces of cloth, known as gap fillers, were discovered protruding about an inch between insulating tiles near Discovery's nose when it reached the International Space Station shortly after its July 26 lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Wednesday's spacewalk by Astronaut Steve Robinson marked the first emergency repair ever conducted in space, as well as the first spacewalk to a shuttle's underside.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials ordered the spacewalk when engineers were unable to determine whether the pieces of cloth would be dangerous during the shuttle's fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere during its return flight set for Monday.
The successful early morning spacewalk was televised live and showed Robinson being moved into position by the spacecraft's robotic arm. He then reached out with his gloved hand and gently tugged out the first of the two pieces of cloth. About 10 minutes later he also easily removed the second gap filler.
Robinson called his spacewalk 220 miles above Earth "the ride of the century."
