Workers repair the parachutes recovered from sea after the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-126 mission.

In the Parachute Refurbishment Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers repair the parachutes recovered from sea after the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-126 mission. Typically, each main canopy requires hundreds of repairs after each use. The smaller chutes and the parachute deployment bags they are packed in also require repairs. The parachutes are used to slow the descent of the solid rocket boosters that are jettisoned during liftoff. One pilot, one drogue and three main canopies per booster slow the booster’s fall from about 360 mph to 50 mph. After the chutes are cleaned and repaired, they must be carefully packed into their bags so they will deploy correctly the next time they are used. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann