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Images for Press Release:

VideoRay Underwater Robot Helps Recover Thrust Reverser Lost from Space Shuttle Trainer Jet

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The image shows the thrust reverser off the NASA Gulfstream jet. Due to the shallow water and mud bottom, the sound waves do not return like a normal sidescan image. However, it did paint the target very well. This was the first image the NASA team recorded on February 4th. The Imagenex sonar was attached to the side of the NASA Survey Boat Challenge by a moveable frame to permit raising and lowering the unit into the water.

NASA diver follows the VideoRay in murky water to the location of the thrust reverser from the NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft after it was located in the Banana River, which covers part of the Kennedy Space Center.

Photo credit: Steve Van Meter

NASA personnel attach lifting slings to the recovered thrust reverser prior to lifting it out of the water with a crane .

Photo credit: Steve Van Meter

The recovered thrust reverser from the NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft is lifted from the Banana River onto a truck by a crane parked on the bridge on the NASA Causeway.

Photo credit: Steve Van Meter

Steve Van Meter, NASA Robotics Specialist, poses with the recovered thrust reverser as it awaits shipment back to the Johnson Space Center in Texas. There it will be examined to determine the cause of the engine failure and loss of the unit from a NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft during a training mission at the Kennedy Space Center in early December.