[Texasmujer]

PROTRUDING GAP FILLER? LOGISTICS MODULE? No, this isn't Engineering 101. It's the much more complicated and flat-out confusing language we hear when watching coverage of---or reading stories about---the space shuttle Discovery.

As the world waits for the safe return of the shuttle and its crew of seven, we earthlings scrtatch our heads at the jargon tossed around by NASA officils.

Don't bother reaching for a dictionary. They are technical terms that confound the average person. We know it's important; we just don't know what it means.

Most people know the bsics of space flight: The shuttle flies into space with a crew. The have a specific mission or tasks. They are guided on the ground by engineers and scientists.

But what in the world is a PROTUBERANCE AIR LOAD? Or COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS? And, we're almost afrain to ask" What occurs in a RENDEZVOUS COMMUNITY?

(For the record, they are, respectively: A RAMP, the SCIENCE OF AIR FLOW and a MEETING>)

"There is a vocabulary there," agreed John Ira Petty, NASA spokesman. "And what you're seeing on NASA television isn't always aimed at the public."

WHAT DO THEY MEAN? Here are af ew of the mind-boggling terms you may hear or read while following Discovery's journey.

GAP FILLER: Fire-retardent strips glued between the shuttle's heat shield tiles that protect the shuttles underside.

PROTUBERANCE AIR LOAD: The much-discussed PAL ramp attached to the shuttle's external fuel tank. It is designed to prevent unsteady air flow underneath the tank's cable trays and pressurization lines during launch.

ORBITER BOOM SENSOR SYSTEM: An extension of the shuttle's robotic arm that contains a camera and laser at its end, which allows the crew to inspect the ship.

RAFFAELLO MULTI-PURPOSE LOGISTICS MODULE: A cargo vehicle used by astronauts in space to move equipment from the Space Station onto the shuttle. Named after Italian Raffaelo Sanzio, better known as Raphael.

UNITY MODULE: A 25,000-pound passageway from the Space Station to the shuttle that allows astronauts to walk between the two.