Discovery returns to VAB
Posted: Fri, May 27, 2005, 8:57 AM ET (1257 GMT)
NASA rolled back the space shuttle Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Thursday to replace its external tank, part of preparations for a July launch. The rollback from pad 39B was delayed several hours because of paperwork, and the crawler transporter had to stop near the end of its journey to allow an overheated bearing to cool before entering the VAB late Thursday afternoon. Technicians will remove the shuttle from its external tank and SRBs and replace that tank with a new one equipped with a heater that will prevent ice from forming along a propellant feed line. Shuttle managers and engineers were concerned that ice that built up there before launch could fall off and strike the orbiter during ascent, damaging it. The launch has been rescheduled for a window that opens on July 13 and runs through the end of the month; Discovery will be rolled back out to the launch pad in mid-June.
NASA rolled back the space shuttle Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Thursday to replace its external tank, part of preparations for a July launch. The rollback from pad 39B was delayed several hours because of paperwork, and the crawler transporter had to stop near the end of its journey to allow an overheated bearing to cool before entering the VAB late Thursday afternoon. Technicians will remove the shuttle from its external tank and SRBs and replace that tank with a new one equipped with a heater that will prevent ice from forming along a propellant feed line. Shuttle managers and engineers were concerned that ice that built up there before launch could fall off and strike the orbiter during ascent, damaging it. The launch has been rescheduled for a window that opens on July 13 and runs through the end of the month; Discovery will be rolled back out to the launch pad in mid-June.
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