SPACE.com -- Shuttle Discovery Joins Atlantis at KSC Launch Pads

Two space shuttles sit at their launch pads on July 2, 2001, a sight not seen at Kennedy Space Center since 1999. Discovery is in the foreground and Atlantis is in the background.
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Space Shuttle Discovery sits on Launch Pad 39A after an early morning rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Discovery is scheduled to launch Aug. 3 on mission STS-105.

Shuttle Discovery arrives at launch pad 39A on July 2, 2001 for a planned launch of STS-105 in August.
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The STS-105 Discovery crew, as well as the Expedition Two and Expedition Three crews.
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	Shuttle Discovery Joins Atlantis at KSC Launch Pads By Todd Halvorson Cape Canaveral posted: 11:05 am ET 02 July 2001

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Shuttle Discovery joined sister ship Atlantis at Kennedy Space Centers twin launch pads Monday, marking just the 16^th time in 20 years that winged spaceships have been simultaneously perched at the oceanfront complexes.

In what amounts to a relatively rare sight, Discovery rolled up onto launch pad 39A early Monday as work continued on Atlantis at pad 39B, which is located a scant 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) away.

Both of the ships are being readied for upcoming missions to the International Space Station, but Discoverys early August launch date likely will slip a couple of days.

"Its the same at the moment. But a move to the right is possible," said KSC spokesman George Diller.

First up will be Atlantis, which is scheduled for launch July 12 on a mission to deliver a $164 million airlock to the international outpost. Discovery is scheduled to follow on Aug. 5, but NASA managers this week are expected to push the flight back a few days, possibly until Aug. 9.

Doing so would give NASA more cushion in launch pad work schedules and more time between missions to conduct a post-flight analysis of the performance of critical shuttle systems during the planned 11-day Atlantis mission.

An Aug. 9 launch also would enable NASA to start a three-day countdown on a Monday, launch on a Thursday, clean up the launch pad on a Friday and avoid weekend overtime costs.

Perched on a giant tracked transporter, Discovery crept out of the Vehicle Assembly Building here early Monday and then made the 3.5-mile (5.6 kilometer) trip out to pad 39A.

The move had been slated to take place last week but was delayed three times because of rainstorms in the central Florida area. NASA safety rules prohibit a move to the pad if rain comes within 34.5 miles (55.2 kilometers) of the agencys coastal Florida spaceport.

Discovery will set sail on a 12-day mission to ferry a new crew to the station and then return to Earth with its current tenants: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev and U.S. flight engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, who have been aboard the outpost since March.

Their replacements: U.S. astronaut Frank Culbertson and two Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Turin.

The last time NASA had shuttles on the KSC pads simultaneously was in December 1999. In that case, Discovery was being readied at pad 39B for a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission as Endeavour rolled out to pad 39A for an Earth mapping mission that ultimately launched in February 2000.