Discovery's astronauts inspected their spaceship for launch damage Wednesday, delicately operating a 100-foot (30-meter) movable arm with lasers and a camera mounted on its tip. NASA engineers, meanwhile, tried to determine whether an apparently chipped thermal tile on the belly of the shuttle poses any danger to the spacecraft and its crew of seven, AP reported. Discovery lifted off Tuesday on the first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy 2 1/2 years ago. The movable boom _ operated by the astronauts via remote control from inside the spaceship _ was added to the shuttle after Columbia was destroyed by damage to it thermal shield at liftoff. The inspection was planned all along, before NASA discovered that an object believed to be a small piece of thermal tile appeared to break off from a vulnerable spot near the nose landing-gear doors on the underside of Discovery during liftoff. Also, a large object _ perhaps a piece of foam insulation _ seemed to fly off from the big external fuel tank but did not hit the shuttle. Officials stressed it was too early to say whether there was any danger to the shuttle or its crew.
