<i>Endeavour astronauts to inspect heat shield </i>

Astronauts aboard the US space shuttle Endeavour prepared yesterday to inspect the heat shield for damage caused by debris that peeled off the external fuel tank during liftoff.
The debris was spotted after the shuttle blasted off Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center, its sixth bid in recent weeks to reach the International Space Station after delays caused by weather woes and technical glitches.
The six Americans and one Canadian aboard Endeavour are scheduled to reach the ISS on Friday, where they will complete the Japanese Kibo laboratory, a platform for astronauts to conduct experiments 350 kilometers (220 miles) above Earth's surface.
A US space agency official downplayed the potential of damage caused by the debris that could be seen hitting the shuttle about two minutes into the flight in images broadcast on NASA TV.
The debris could be ice or foam that broke off from the external fuel tank, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations.
"We had some foam loss events," Gerstenmaier told reporters. "You can clearly see, on the front part of the orbiter, some white indications where the tiles were dinged.
"We don't consider those an issue for us, those are probably coating losses," he said. But specialists will scrutinize the images, Gerstenmaier said.
NASA piped in the song "These Are Days" by the band 10,000 Maniacs for the Endeavour's crew wake-up, "targeted especially for Mission Specialist Tim Kopra," the space agency said.
Commander Mark Polansky and pilot Doug Hurley were to kick off the day's work with an Orbital Maneuvering System engine firing to fine-tune Endeavour's path toward the ISS. Officials plan a second burn at the end of the crew's day.
The crew also will install a camera in the shuttle's docking tunnel, extend the Orbiter Docking System ring and check out the hand-held laser range-finder and other equipment ahead of docking.