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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ NASA hopes to launch the space shuttle Atlantis as early as Oct. 2, now that cracks in the spacecraft's fuel lines have been repaired.
The discovery of cracks in the space program's four shuttles had grounded the fleet all summer.
NASA delivered the newly mended Atlantis to the launch pad Tuesday atop a spaceship hauler, which itself had also undergone repairs to replace cracked bearings. The platform and its new bearings held up well during four-mile journey from the hangar, which took almost all morning.
As for security at the launch pad, Kennedy Space Center director Roy Bridges said procedures have been reviewed yet again and ``are quite adequate right now.''
Bridges, a former astronaut, said millions of extra dollars are being spent to guard against a terrorist attack. ``In the world we live in today, it's needed and I'm very happy to have it,'' he said, adding that he knows of no specific threat against the space center.
NASA had to replace old bearings in the Apollo-era spaceship hauler after the damage turned up in August. The problem in the huge caterpillar-track platform was discovered just as the space agency finished welding cracked fuel lines inside Atlantis.
Significant cracking also was found in many of the bearings in NASA's other spaceship transporter, in use for 37 years. Dozens of new bearings had to be ordered; each one is about the size of a volleyball and custom-made.
The fuel-line cracks were discovered in Atlantis and the other three shuttles earlier this summer. A master welder repaired the cracks in Atlantis and then went to work on Endeavour.
Atlantis will carry up a major new part for the international space station, and a pair of astronauts will conduct three spacewalks to hook everything up.
Atlantis originally had been scheduled for an August liftoff. All the other space shuttle flights also were bumped by at least a month.
Shuttle program director Ron Dittemore estimated that repairs to the shuttle cracks cost millions of dollars in overtime. Engineers are still trying to determine what caused the damage.
Although the fuel-line cracks were minute, NASA feared they could grow and chip, possibly sending pieces of metal shrapnel into a main engine. That, in turn, could have resulted in a launch explosion.
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