The Nation - News from Oct. 7, 1986

The space agency today was to roll out the first space shuttle since the Challenger accident Jan. 28 that killed seven crew members, moving Atlantis to a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for seven weeks of tests. Included will be emergency crew escape exercises and other pad procedures. Atlantis was to have been moved to the pad to check out $3.2-million worth of new pad weather protection equipment designed to shield shuttle thermal tiles from damage caused by rain or windblown objects, but officials decided to add the extra tests.