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Gap Filler Mission: STS-86 Atlantis   Crew: James D. Wetherbee Michael J. Bloomfield Vladimar G. Titov Scott E. Parazynski Jean-Loup Chretien Wendy B. Lawrence David A. Wolf (u) C. Michael Foale (d) Launch: September 25, 1997   Landing: October 6, 1997   Duration: 10 days, 19 hours   Comment: An unprecedented spacewalk to Discovery's underbelly removed two protruding gap fillers during STS-114. This ceramic coated-fabric gap filler was used to fill a very small space and provide a cushion between Atlantis' aft protective thermal tiles. There are as many as 9,000 fillers on the bottom of each shuttle. The red coloring on the gap filler is the RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) glue that held it in place between the tiles. back to Artifacts © 1999-2008 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. Questions? E-mail contact@collectspace.com