KSC-99pp0531

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A crawler transporter moves Space Shuttle Discovery, with its external tank and solid rocket boosters, from Pad 39B back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at left to repair damage to the external tank's foam insulation caused by hail. The external tank-solid rocket booster stack for mission STS-93, which was moved out of High Bay 1 to make room for Discovery, can be seen in the background between Discovery and the VAB. The necessary repair work could not be performed at the pad due to limited access to the damaged areas. The work is expected to take two to three days, allowing Discovery to roll back to Pad 39B by midweek for launch of mission STS-96, the 94th launch in the Space Shuttle Program. This is only the 13th time since 1981 that a Shuttle has had to roll back from the pad. Liftoff will occur no earlier than May 27. STS-96 is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, carrying such payloads as a Russian crane, the Strela; a U.S.-built crane; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), a logistics items carrier; and STARSHINE, a student-shared experiment