Shuttle Discovery's External Tank Swap Going Well

Suspended from an overhead crane in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the orbiter Discovery is lowered toward the Solid Rocket Booster and External Tank (seen below) already stacked on the top of the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP). CREDIT: NASA/KSC.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Shuttle Discovery is dangling from a crane inside the Vehicle Assembly Building this afternoon after workers carefully removed the orbiter from its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters this morning.

Discovery is going to fly with a different external fuel tank, which shuttle workers modified to solve safety concerns about dangerous ice debris and a glitchy fuel valve. Discovery's move off the old tank is expected to take until evening to complete.

However, the progress of work inside the assembly building continues slightly ahead of schedule. Discovery could be attached to its new external tank and boosters on Monday, one day early. If so, the shuttle could return to Pad 39B on June 13, also one day early.

Every day counts for the shuttle launch team as NASA works to ready Discovery for the first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster.

Launch day is currently planned for July 13, though the space agency has until the end of July to get Discovery off the ground.

The shuttle team continues to have almost two weeks of padding in the schedule to achieve the July 13 launch.

If Discovery can't fly in July, NASA will have to wait until September because of safety constraints that require good lighting on Earth and in space. The reason is to make sure engineers have the best pictures possible of the shuttle and its redesigned fuel tank. Foam falling off the tank during launch caused the 2003 shuttle disaster.

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