This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. EDT.
CAPECANAVERAL - Discovery is moving in the wrong direction but for the rightreasons, workers said as the shuttle began rolling back to the launch pad atKennedy Space Center this morning.
The shuttle paused near the Vehicle Assembly Building early this afternoon with an overheated bearing in the crawler-transporter. Workers repacked the bearing in grease and let it cool, NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham said. It was under way again before 3 p.m. and entered the Vehicle Assembly Building about 4:30 p.m.
"It's another slow step in the right direction, and it's another indicationthat we're not going to fly until it's safe to do so," said crawler supervisorRay Trapp of Port St. John as he watched the ship move slowly off the pad.
Brian Jones and a couple of co-workers were there to take pictures of the ship,for "the excitement of going back to flying again," he said.
The rollback, which will allow NASA to substitute the shuttle's external fueltank, was essential for safety reasons, he said.
"I think it's a good thing," said Jones, an elevator worker for contractorUnited Space Alliance who lives in Mims. "It has to be right before it goes."
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