Discovery heat shield repair. Astronaut Soichi Noglichi (lower centre) is perched on an International Space Station truss. He is acting as a communications relay between astronaut Steve Robinson, who is repairing the heat shield (lower left), and the space shuttle Discovery. It was feared that two ceramic strips found protruding from the heat shield might have led to overheating of the shield during Discovery's re-entry. This was the first time that an astronaut had ever performed in-flight repairs to a shuttle. This mission, STS-114 or Return to Flight, launched on 26th July 2005. It was the first shuttle mission since Columbia was lost on re-entry on 1st February 2003.