STS-114 NBL training

JSC2004-E-13023 (2 March 2004) --- Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) Astronaut Soichi Noguchi, the lead space walker for the Space Shuttle's return to flight on mission STS-114, checks a potential repair technique for the Shuttle's heat protection tiles in Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) pool. The checkout session was conducted on March 2, 2004, and checked the latest techniques and hardware under development for Noguchi to use during an in-flight test of new Shuttle heat shield repair possibilities during STS-114. The mission is now targeted for launch no earlier than the spring of 2005.