Glitches have plagued the start of the STS-122 mission, though none of them appear serious. A backup conputer onboard Atlantis has been temporarily turned off. NASA has spotted a heat shield tile on Atlantis that seems to have a small tear, though it also seems to be in an area where heat is more a problem during liftoff than reentry. Finally, a spacewalk scheduled for today has been put off until tomorrow, and the mission extended a day, because one of the astronauts is ill. NASA has not revealed which astronaut it is, nor commented on the nature of the illness.
One measure of the maturity of a space program is the ability to deal with problems on the fly and move on. NASA has demonstrated that ability many times over the years. It may have to again.
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