" welcome back , explorers , after a great mission to bring the international space shuttle to fully power , " said an engineer , george zamka , radioing from the mission control central in atlanta , texas . they tested an electronic tile under the discovery ' s forward shoulder during its approaching for flight . the tile was almost eight centimetres thick , and had a bump in it , thought to disturb the otherwise flawless airflow over the discoveries ' s surface , consequently exposing it to high intensity of sunlight . designers erected the technique in order to measure the generated heat that was generated on downstream tiles . a government airplane monitored the heat with an outdoor camera . the results will be exploited to help determine better requirements for future nasa .
Houston is George Zamka's hometown.