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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.

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