[The shuttle Endeavour suffered potentially dangerous damage to the ship's underside heatshield, apparently during liftoff, NASA said Friday.

The problem, which may require repair by some of the shuttle's astronauts, was discovered soon after the ship docked with the international space station.

A 3-inch-by-3-inch gouge was found in soft protective shielding under the shuttle's right wing in close-up photos taken by the station's two Russian cosmonauts as Endeavour approached for the linkup Friday afternoon.

NASA plans to take a closer look on Sunday, when shuttle astronauts wave cameras and lasers on the tip of Endeavour's robot arm across the gouge to measure its depth.]

From Houston Chronicle/Mark Carreau.

About those two Russian cosmonauts, I have to give credit to Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight engineer Oleg Kotov. They've been very supportive (since STS 117).

It was good to see Shannon Lucid at the Capcom today/night (after 3:00am ET now).

'night all.