Discovery Returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building
May 31, 2005 02: 10 EST
Better safe than sorry. After months of anticipation for a May launch, NASA decided to push the Space Shuttle's Return to Flight launch window back to July. They determined that more safety precautions should be taken before the launch.
The decision was made April 28, after a series of reviews showed that further work was needed to address debris issues, as well as some items that were discovered during work on Discovery at the launch pad.
In recent weeks, there have been many positive steps that suggested the Space Shuttle Discovery was on the fast track to re-launch. Earlier this month, Discovery was rolled to the launch pad, an accomplishment that many saw as “a big milestone."
Now, Discovery is back in Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building after a ten-hour journey from Launch Pad 39B. The 4.2-mile trip began at 6:44 a.m. EDT Thursday, May 26.
Orbiter Discovery will soon be removed from its External Tank (ET) and lowered into the transfer aisle. On or about June 7, Discovery will be lifted and attached to its new ET and Solid Rocket Boosters. The new tank, known as ET-121, was originally slated to fly with Atlantis on mission STS-121, but will now help carry Discovery into space.
Discovery is expected to roll back out to the pad in mid-June.
"We're going to return to flight, not rush to flight," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. "We're going to do it right. Flying this Shuttle brings with it great risk, risk that cannot be eliminated. No decision to launch the Shuttle can be routine. Sending brave men and women into space is not without risk, but we will do everything possible to reduce those risks. If it takes more time to achieve that goal, then so be it.”
The Return to Flight mission will be the 114th Space Shuttle flight. Image of Discovery's return to the assembly building, courtesy of NASA.
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