Space: Getting Ready to Try Again

Concentrating on safety, NASA prepares the shuttle for flight

For the first time since that winter day 29 months ago when the shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven disappeared in a sickening cloud of smoke and debris, signs of vitality were evident at Florida's Kennedy Space Center last week. To the cheers of hundreds of workers, the redesigned 85-ton orbiter Discovery was rolled into the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building to be attached to the two solid-fuel rocket boosters and the external fuel tank. This week plans call for the entire structure to be moved, at a glacial pace, more than four miles to launching pad 39B and poised for...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!