[FPSPACE] Next up...release of the small satellite

[Chris Jones]

Kosmos327 at aol.com wrote:
> Seems to me there would be major advantages to having a small "third
> eye" watching the mission. Hasn't there been both American and Russian
> missions where a different visual perspective could have allowed mission
> control to (for example) see the condition of the spacecraft, determine
> what is preventing a docking, if it's possible to un-jam an antenna or
> solar panel, etc.

Certainly.  On what was not planned to be Columbia's final mission but
turned out to be, a look at the leading edge of the wings would have
answered some questions that were not being asked by the right people.