On your mark...Discovery heads to next stage of pre-launch
Mar 29, 2005 14: 27 EST
The Space Shuttle Discovery, and its seven person crew, made an important and symbolic step toward the first launch since the Columbia tragedy.
It was one of the shortest trips Discovery has ever taken, but the quarter-mile journey from the processing hangar to the assembly building was especially significant because it demonstrated that NASA has refocused its attention on an actual shuttle launch.
For the last couple years, NASA has been concentrating its attention on improving the insulating foam that surrounds the External Tank. It was damage to this foam that led to the Columbia accident.
The big step is over
According to Kennedy Space Center spokeswoman Jessica Rye, "The big step is getting out of the (hangar) because now what is in front of us is relatively standard processing." That’s good news for the astronauts who’ve been grounded since 2003. With the phasing-out of the Space Shuttle program approaching in the next few years, they’re running out of time to catch a flight. The latest in Discovery’s progress towards launch should give the flightless astronauts some hope…for now.
The quarter-mile trip from the processing hangar to the assembly building took one hour. Discovery is scheduled to launch May 15th. The Return to Flight mission will be the 114th Space Shuttle flight. Photo courtesy of NASA.
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