and Extravehicular 1 Pre-launch concerns Following the flight readiness review meeting which concluded on June 17, 2006, NASA's Chief Engineer Christopher Scolese and Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer Bryan O'Connor, who served as pilot on STS-61-B and commanded STS-40, decided that from their point of view they were going to recommend that the shuttle not be flown. O'Connor later expanded this to explain that this is due to the potential for the loss of the vehicle; he supported the collective decision to fly, however, especially given the option for the crew to stay on the ISS and await rescue if the shuttle is unable to return to earth. Both Scolese and O'Connor included notes explaining their position in their entries in the official plans. Statement by Scolese and O'Connor as released by NASA: NASA's public affairs office had said following the flight readiness review that O'Connor and Scolese would not talk to the media about their objections. On June 20 it was reported that O'Connor was readily agreeing to interviews and also said the statement was actually written by the public affairs office and agreed by the two officials. On the morning of the first launch attempt, on July 1, concerns included weather, external fuel tank foam, and a thruster failure. The thruster failure was detected via abnormally low thermostat readings in one of the left Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods. The thruster in question – L5L, one of 38 – was considered inoperable. The plan was not to fix the problem, but to ensure that any reduction in maneuverability resulting from the failure is within the limits that the crew can cope with on orbit. Thruster L5L became operational again after mission managers decided to use sunlight to warm up the thruster to normal operational levels and it was able to be used during the docking procedures with the ISS. Mission coverage NASA's simulation website was regularly updated as the launch approached. Shortly after launch NASA TV online and via cable was seriously disrupted by a thunderstorm over Goddard Space Flight Center from where NASA TV is uplinked to satellites for distribution. The entire mission was covered on NASA TV and was available online worldwide, on cable, and on satellite in the USA. In the United States, CNN, CSPAN, FOX News, HDNet, and MSNBC had live coverage of the launch and landing. Media See also 2006 in spaceflight